Don't Kiss That Frog
by Setus
Summary: Alex and her Dad are on an anthropological expedition to find a lost ancient kingdom that was rumored to house a magic orb with the power to manipulate time and advanced medicinal studies of amphibians. As reluctant as she is to be on this trip, Alex is about to find out that the beloved fairytale of The Frog Prince, is not what everyone knows it to be.
1. Chapter 1 - Slump

Disclaimer: I own the characters, but not the premise of the story that it's built on. This is the unedited NaNoWriMo Challenge 2018 that I attempted and completed, it's basically a 30-day challenge to write 50,000 words. So each chapter here is a day's worth of what I wrote, some days I wrote more, some days I wrote less. Each chapter's title is a word I generated from a random word generator, as a writing prompt for that day's chapter, so most of the time it might not make sense, but somewhere in the chapter you'll see I somehow worked it in. The storyline I built has evolved so much that some days I don't even know what I'm writing, but that's sometimes what happens, and the only way forward, is to keep writing. So to all of you, just keep reading, and I hope I managed to make you laugh with my first ever attempt at sartorial and dry humor. Thank you. Reviews will always be welcomed.

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I consider it a major slump in my life, when I accepted the coercion to go on this work trip with Dad. Never mind about the fact that I'm stuck in a dead-end job, single and alone at my 30th birthday, and buying bigger size clothes every year. This, right here is the lowest of low.

My dad is an anthropologist. By that the official definition, he is someone who studies human culture, interactions, and behavior. But by his own definition, it means he has to immerse himself as much in the culture to observe, learn and interpret, thereby coming to various ludicrous conclusions as to why humans behave the way they behave.

I on the other hand believe humans behave that way, is simply because they are humans. As a data analyst, my profession requires me to interact very minimally with other human beings. I am very certain that humans are simple, yet we have an uncanny ability to complicate even the smallest of things. Watching the news is like watching a giant human entity mutilating itself with a butter knife; agonizingly painful and ultimately pointless. You think you know your best of friends after a while, but no matter how much time has passed, they'll still manage to surprise you with unfathomable things that make you question how the hell were you all friends in the first place.

Day in day out, I sit in front of a computer, generating data upon data, transforming them into something of the same intellectual level as children's picture books, and passing them off to others who are more capable of talking to other human beings without rolling their eyes. I prefer working with details, facts and numbers. Why? Because they don't lie. You can't try to fake a minus into a plus, because if it's there, it's there. You can't fluff it up, fudge it or put glitter all over it just so it shines and blinds people from the truth.

Back to my dad. His job sounds impressive? To you, perhaps. To me, he's is a tenure university lecturer who ironically spends most of an academic year out in rainforests, mountains and deserts, studying tribes or ruins, basically anywhere with trace of human activity other than a lecture theater. I have no idea why the university still pays him, or rather gave him the tenure in the first place, but I was told repeatedly whenever I visit him that he is an extraordinary researcher with unmeasurable talents and insights to the human race. Or at least something along those lines. I don't remember because I tune out most of the time.

Now because of that, I only get to see him about four times a year, of which he would crash my apartment with trunk full of souvenirs, trophies, and sometimes biohazard items that somehow managed to go through airport security. He would spend most of the time trying to flood my brain with exotic tribal practices, myths and legends of the ethnic group he had just studied, and convincing me that the rabbit totem of fertility will bring me great health and love if I were to place it exactly facing north in my bedroom.

"Remember that story I told you when you were four?" I turned to watch tiny droplets of milk leaping out of the bowl in my father's hand as he slumps down onto the couch nonchalantly. "Mum used to read it to you at bedtime. The story of the Frog Prince?"

He had started waving the spoon around while buying time to chew on the last of my cereal, more droplets of milk flying around eventually making tiny ghostly imprints on my navy blue couch. Evidently my frown went unnoticed, as he started reiterating the tale that I'm tired of hearing. Who knew that watching Dad crunching cereal and hearing the words "kissed the frog" simultaneously would drive a pizza craving away.

"You know a very, well let's say a highly accurate source, has just tipped me off," He laughed, half choking on the cereal. "That the German city where this tale originates is actually real. The prince is real, we just don't know what really happened to him. He just disappeared!"

Over the years, I've learnt the best reaction is to look at him, pretend that you are giving him your utmost attention behind a poker face and nod silently as though you are committing what he had just said to memory voluntarily, while thinking of more important stuff, like what other cereal to get later, or how to clean the milk spills on the couch.

Don't get me wrong, I love my dad, and I love his stories, when I was five. By the age of fifteen, I've grown to know that most of the things he say, while culturally accurate, are no more than fairy tales to the life that I have. And the older I grew, the bigger contrast it is with the stories he told, the beliefs and ideas that he learnt, and what I've experienced.

Dad is fascinated with humans. So is mum apparently. They are made for each other, even the blind can see. Dad was studying to be an anthropologist, Mum's an aspiring photographer selling photos to National Geographic. They apparently met in the same village out in the Amazon and hit it off. Thankfully, I wasn't conceived in the forest.

My life has always been normal, as I would now desperately like to believe. I would say I'm privileged to have both parents growing up, working body albeit slightly unhealthy, given the amount of chocolate and fried chicken I need to survive, and a home at every stage of my life. I go to work everyday, I have my own apartment, I scream when I see stuffed bears, I go on holidays, I'll pet a cat or dog when I see one and I order pizza whenever I feel like it. I hang out with my close friends whenever I can, and we'll whine about our work and gossip about our immediate acquaintances.

I may, or may not, have fantasized about having an adventure that would change my life forever in my younger days, just like those accursed fairy tales Disney would have you hypnotized and chained to their merchandise. But I have to emphasize, my life has been very ordinary. I skydived once and that's about the most exciting thing I've ever experienced in my entire life.

So why is it a major slump in my life? It has everything to do with that wrong decision I made, to go on my dad's lame expedition in my mum's place.

"Oh sweetie you're going to love it in Germany." Mum said, pulling me into a hug. "I've researched about Schwarzwald, it's amazingly beautiful. I wish I was going with you two."

"Then you go." I cried. No harm trying my luck to protest one last time.

"Sweetie. You know you need a vacation, and this invitation to teach a course on photography at the University is a once in a lifetime opportunity! Isn't it exciting?"

At this point, I should have taken my chances and made a run for the airport doors.

"Remember to keep an eye out for your Dad, he tends to get too focused on studying things and forgets he's in a forest. Jack," Mum continued, snatching the guidebook out of Dad's hands. "It's been a while since you two have gone on a trip, so look out for each other. Make sure you pack enough food and …"

The flight times just updated on the large screen up above us. Well, it's going to be a long flight.


	2. Chapter 2 - God

Most people fly commercial flights have normal in-flight entertainment, such as blockbuster movies, videogames, uncomfortable sleep or screaming children. I should know, because I've been on my own fair share of air travel. Yet on this particular trip, I was unable to experience any of it. Not because we were on a budget airline, but rather I was seated next to an exceptionally annoying passenger, who also happens to be my Dad.

"Look at this, The Black Forest, or actually we should call it by its German name Schwarzwald, is huge!" I hear his muffled voice though my left earphones and my in-flight screen was suddenly replaced with a large piece of paper shoved from the next seat. He had started pointing at various points of the map to me excitedly, I can see his mouth moving, but all I can hear is gunshots from movie that apparently I'm not watching anymore. I saw his hand reach over to yank the left earphone from my ear. "Here, help me look through these."

He thrusted a folder to me as he folded up the map into a smaller and more manageable size to study it. I should mention that I hate people touching my earphones, especially my earphones. It's not just that it is rude, but because they are the detachable part of my ears. I only take them off when I need to listen to specific people conveying important messages, and I put them back on so that my hearing is protected from decibels that will cause deafness, like that kid screaming three rows ahead about daddy's beer, or the homophobic woman across the aisle praying to some divine entity to cleanse the world. But unfortunately, this person who has a death wish happens to be my Dad, and also the person paying for my trip.

I look down at the folder with great confusion, not because it had the letters "YOLO" printed on it, but the papers within it looked as though they have been flushed down the toilet then out to sea, and finally extracted out of the guts of a hagfish. I was very convinced that the black and white spots on the papers are actual bacteria colonies growing.

"I still don't understand why you have to go on this trip." I grumbled as I gingerly tried to pick out a piece of the paper with a napkin I found on my tray. "Finding a lost city is the job of an Archeologist, not Anthropologist. I know how to spell Dad, in case you were wondering."

"It's a fine line between the work of Archeology and Anthropology, Alex." he said with much pride. "We work hand in hand to study what's lost in time. They dig up artefacts and relics, uncover sites and ruins, and we study and interpret the humans stories from these entities. It's a beautiful relationship, a dance through time really, where-"

There was another rapid fire of gunshots in my right ear and the guy in the in-flight screen ran off, just in time to distract me away from Dad reciting poetry. Dad loves his job, and I do mean love. Like how Joey loves meatball subs, or Garfield to lasagna. To be honest, while I enjoy what I do, I don't love my job. I'm hundred percent sure that Mum isn't head over heels in love with photography either. But Dad loves studying people at any remote chance he gets, for reasons that I never, and probably won't ever understand.

I recall there was once he came to visit me during a college exchange. "Visit" is a vague term. He "crashed" my exchange was more like it. I had flew to Japan for a cultural exchange, as my lecturer for Cultural Psychology was a visiting professor at a university there, and we were somehow obligated to take an elective course for . I absolutely hated that class, truth to be told. On the very first day of class he called me out immediately.

"Drakalski?" he stared at the register as though it was made of Adamantium. I raised my hand, and he looked at me as though I was made of Adamantium. "Are you related to Jack Drakalski?"

Because of a nod and mouthing "father", for the next fifteen weeks, I was being tasked as the "Consultant" of the class.

"What constitute to a culture? What are your thoughts on this, Alexandria?" Apparently he invited himself to be on a first name basis with me, which was at best bearable for a while, until the day the administration office sent me a pile of documents which included a travel visa to Japan, next to a memo that I was approved to be a lecturer's aide on a guest lecture in Tokyo.

Obviously my first course of action was to call my father so that he may file a complaint against this unlawful force of labor. Obviously I wasn't smart enough to see the flaw in this rash course of action.

"Japan? To lecture? That's amazing! I-I'll see if I can come visit you while you were there. Maybe we can make a trip out to Kyoto to see the Geisha, oh we should go to Okinawa too! The secrets to longevity-"

Worst trip ever. It's bad enough to travel with one psychotic anthropologist, let alone two. I've never needed earplugs in my life until then.

I turned my attention to the first piece of paper in the folder and it was beyond old. It was a memo, possibly written by someone who had to fashion a pen out of charcoal. It was written in German I assumed, and I shoved it back in because I'm illiterate in German. The second piece was a drawing of a castle, possibly torn from a poor kid's fairy tale book or something. It was the typical castle you see in movies, with a big high stone walls, pointy caps topping the towers, giant elegant gate with a wide footbridge, set within a lush forest.

As I pulled the castle page, a few smaller pieces of paper fell out. Now these are more my time. White copier paper, some torn from yellow legal pads, there was one at the back of a receipt for coffee at Starbucks, that's new. All of them had sketches, one had an odd shaped rock that probably was either broken by some force or it was a naturally occurring rock that other rocks made fun of. It was a long and tall rock and bent at an angle like a street lamp that lost a fight with a semi. The Starbucks receipt had a sketch of a fortune teller's crystal ball. The yellow legal pad was the one that was more to my comprehension level. Words and numbers, things I'm familiar with.

Prince Gerald Augustine Frederick Engelhardt. First Prince of Edalewen . Betrothed to the Duchess of Salzwedel, but never wed. Prince Gerald disappeared the day before the grand wedding. The King and Queen of Edalewen were devastated and the kingdom fell without a successor to the throne. Edalewen vanished from major historical records over the years. Researchers, explorers have attempted to trace the ancient kingdom without success. Records of trace evidence have indicated that it resides in Schwarzwald, the famous Black Forest of Germany.

There were a bunch of numbers after the wall of text written by a psychopath, arranged in strings one after another. Some were crossed out, others had question marks next to them. I looked over to Dad to see him turning the map upside down.

"Mind telling me what these are? Or should I just start writing a children's book about it?" I asked. He turned around enthusiastically, the seat actually shook.

"Well Alex, let me take you back to your childhood," he set down the map gently and took off his glasses, possibly so he will miss the roll of my eyes. "Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away, there lived a princess with a golden ball. She loved that ball very much and all day long, she'll toss the ball as high as she could, and catch it without fail."

"Can we just skip this part, and go straight to these papers? I feel like the longer they are out, the faster I'll be infected by a virus and-"

"Ah, ah, ah-" he waved his finger in front of me. To my dad, I've never grown past five years old.

"The princess never went anywhere without it, and one fine day, she was playing with her favorite golden ball and wandered too far. She tossed the ball higher then ever, and watched it drop." My dad then illustrated the physics of objects rising and falling with his hands.

"I was wrong, the virus won't kill me. You will."

"The princess dashed ahead to catch it, but it was too late. The ball fell into a pond with a splash, and sank to the bottom." Dad ignored me and continued.

I realized, at that moment the kid three rows ahead had stopped screaming. I was amazed at my dad's powers of hypnosis for just a second before it hit me that I must have developed some form of immunity to it.

"The princess was devastated. It was her favorite toy, one that she wouldn't part with for anything in the world."

"Yes, so she cried, and a frog came along. Told her that he'll help her get it if would love him, let him sleep on her bed, eat at her table. She agreed, and the frog retrieves the golden ball, but she went back on her promise and ran away. I know." I couldn't take it anymore. "If you ask me, if a frog starts talking, you get the hell out of there, let alone listen to his pick up lines."

"Well yes, but she loved the ball so much." Dad cried.

"I don't think you should be saying that out loud, Dad." I turned back to the papers. There was something else that I missed apparently. The white copier paper had a sketch of a young man in medieval clothing. He had confident eyes, a chiseled face, and thick wavy locks of hair. I assume this, is the prince my dad is about to bring to his story.

"Anyway, the princess ran away, ignoring the frog's cries. Thinking that he cannot survive out of the pond, he wouldn't come after her. That night, she sat at the table for her dinner, and there was a tap on the door, followed by a sorrowful cry.

"Princess oh princess, open the door. It is I, your one true love."

"Dad please stop. People are looking." I begged desperately as the homophobic woman across the aisle is looking over. She must be wondering why the hell is a grown woman, listening to a man telling her fairy tales.

"The king asked who is at the door. The princess reluctantly told her father about the ugly frog whom she made a promise to love if he retrieved her golden ball."

"Yes, a lesson both women, and men should know, that once you make a promise you shouldn't break it. You should tell that to the world, dad." I couldn't help roll my eyes again. For years, I wasn't just tired of hearing fairy tales and stories, I was also tired of hearing my girl friends crying over a bottle of vodka about men who said they'll call, and didn't. Stories of people at the altar promise to love each other in sickness and in health till death do them part, and didn't. Oh how I weep for humanity, for like a second, because then I remember how much I hate humans.

"That is right. The king told the princess exactly that, and she had no choice but to open the door, and let the frog in. The frog sat at their table, drank from her cup, ate from her plate. When he was done, he exclaimed for the princess to carry him to her bed so he may sleep next to her."

"Worst pick up line ever, right next to "I lost my teddy bear, can I sleep next to you"." I said, catching the eye of the homophobic woman. She gave me a slightly horrified look, I stared back, and she looked away.

"The princess kept her promise and let the frog sleep next to her. In the morning, at the first light of the day, the frog hopped out of bed, out of the castle, and left. The princess was relieved. Hopefully he wouldn't come back, she thought."

"And we all know how that ends."

"The next night, the frog returned. "Princess oh princess, open the door. It is I, your one true love", he cried outside the door. The princess was horrified, but as the king said, she had to honor her promise. So he ate at the table, slept in her bed for the second time."

"Yes, and then the third day it happened again, but instead of a frog the next morning, he had magically transformed into a handsome prince." I sighed in defeat, leaning my head on the seat in front of me, acutely aware that the homophobic woman had turned to look again.

"That's right. The prince then told his tale, of how he was enchanted by a spiteful fairy and the only way to break the curse was to have a princess love him, let him eat out of her plate, and sleep in her bed, which in later versions was changed to her kissing the frog to break the curse. They both went to the prince's kingdom and wed, and lived happily ever after."

"Dad did you know that when the movie came out, lots of young girls were poisoned because they went looking for any frog they could find and kissed them, hoping they'd turn into princes?" I asked in mock glee, hoping to annoy him.

"Yes I'm very aware of that, and this is why I never tell you that kiss version. This is called being a responsible parent."

I can't win with this man.

"Now, here's where it gets interesting." he said, pulling the papers towards him. "Stories, be it fairy tales, must have come from somewhere. Now the most common version of the story was told by Brothers Grimm, who were German. A contact of mine, has just recently uncover some traces of a lost city out in Schwarzwald. While tracing back the history, they noticed a blank, and break in the lineage of ancient kings."

"How fascinating…"

"It is indeed!" Dad exclaimed, he pulled out the yellow legal pad and the sketch of the prince. "Prince Gerald, was the missing link. You see, royalty remains royalty in ancient times, because they married exclusively. Royal blood to royal blood, sometimes noble blood. Occasionally you'll hear of marrying commoners out of love, but those are very rare, as most of them elope and fall out of the royal line.

"The Engelhardt family of Edalewen was a key royal family in ancient Germany, there are many traces of their family lineage, marrying into bigger kingdoms. But, the name disappeared after a while. At first glance, we would assume they couldn't produce any heirs to continue the line, but that was not true. The kingdom of Edalewen had a long standing relationship with the noble family of Salzwedel. While the Salzwedel family did not have a kingdom, their family is widely considered to be an integral part of the time with their networks of trade and businesses."

"Let me guess, someone was supposed to wed the prince, but didn't."

"Exactly. The Duchess of Salzwedel was supposed to marry Prince Gerald, to continue the line of Engelhardt, but the wedding never took place."

"What's wrong with that? Maybe they don't love each other, maybe the families fought, they'll just marry other people."

"Except they didn't." I could see that we are getting into something interesting, as my dad's eyes started twinkling. "Both families vanished from history."

"Maybe they all died from a plague." I said dryly, reaching for a cup in my holder. "Or maybe, the Duchess was dumb enough to believe the story you just told me, and kissed a frog and died from poison."

"Except they didn't." my dad smiled, and pulled out the paper that was so old and infectious.

"This is the key to solving the puzzle." he held it out for me to see, and started reading the paper in German. I stared blankly at him. Partially I was tired, the other part was because I don't understand a single word of German. He finished, and look up at my blank look.

"It says here, "Edalewen, a kingdom shrouded in mystery, have been well-known for their advancement in medicine, longevity, and prosperity. The kingdom was served by many famous doctors of their time, able to concoct formulas for the deathliest of plagues, and practices to even change looks of people. Many have travelled far and wide to seek medicinal help, while others avoided the place, in fear of the rumors of sorcery practice. One such rumor is of a golden orb that the king and queen kept secret in their castle, protected against even the highest of subjects. A magical orb that is said to be a drop of the sun itself, that manifested in magic powers to heal, protect, and even reverse time"."

Dad looked at me, like a child looking at the shelves of Toys 'rus during Christmas, as he held out the Starbucks receipt with the crystal ball sketch on it.

"You cannot be serious, dad." I threw my head in resignation. "You think this golden orb, is that golden ball that the dumb princess has in the story? How the hell did you even link the kingdom to the ball? Where's the frog in the story?"

"Ah ha!" he exclaimed again. "That's my girl, your acute thinking have not faltered, and will serve well in this expedition."

If I roll my eyes any further, I'll be able to see the back of my head. He continued reading the piece of biohazard paper.

"Edalewen doctors have been known to experiment with herbs and even animals. Frogs, have been abundant in marshlands surrounding the kingdom, and have been a source of many miracle medicines that have come from the kingdom. Doctors harvested toxins, skins and secretions that have proven to be beneficial to the human health."

I cannot believe I'm hearing this.

"Where the hell, did you get that paper from, Dad?" I asked calmly.

"From that contact of mine." he said proudly, pocketing the papers and bits of scrapes back into the folder.

"Is your contact Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs?" I asked sarcastically.

"No, and I know what you are thinking. This is a legitimate source, and one that many explorers and researchers have been dying to find." he pulled back out the legal pad. "See these numbers? These are coordinates that people have speculated and hypothesized where the kingdom of Edalewen could possibly be located. The ones crossed out have been debunked."

"Are you sure they are dying from expeditions and not from kissing poisonous frogs?" I couldn't help myself.

"Alex." he turned serious. "This is an important expedition, one that many of my esteemed colleagues and peers have researched extensively about. It is real, and I'm going to find it. The university has strongly backed me up on this, so I'm not going to disappoint them."

"What if it turns out to be wrong? What if there is really no kingdom and it really is just a fairy tale?" I asked. "You're basing everything on assumption and claims that have never been proven. And even if it really exist, thousands of people visit Schwarzwald everyday, wouldn't they have found it by now?"

"Then we'll just have to find out what happened to the two families that were lost in history. The answer is in the forest, Alex. I know it is."

The seatbelt sign flashed on and there was an announcement in German. My dad started buckling his seatbelt, and the movie that was running turned black. I could feel my mind unable to comprehend the ridiculousness of this expedition. But then again, many of my statistics throughout my course of work have proven themselves unrealistic and impossible, yet there's always an explanation behind. Whether we accept the explanation is one thing, but the fact that they link the most unlikely of variables, prove that anything can happen in this world.

I stared blankly at the black screen ahead of me. From my peripherals I could see the homophobic woman praying, the screaming kid ahead has started screaming again because of the change in pressure following our descent. I thought about the story, and the sketches.

Yep, that's got to be the worst in-flight entertainment I've ever had. I'd like to believe there is a God, or at least some form of polythesim religion that could help me. Unfortunately they are on my dad's side this time.


	3. Chapter 3 - Depart

I landed in Karlsruhe Baden-Baden Airport with an emergency medical condition. However, my dad refused to acknowledge that I lost my butt while we were crossing the ocean just because I can no longer feel it. I am very certain I departed my home with it attached to my anatomy, but at this present moment I cannot help but wonder can body parts disassociate themselves without knowing, if so, then anesthesiologists will be made obsolete.

He went on to say it's because I didn't do in-flight exercises to regulate my blood flow regularly. Well it's not my fault they don't put that on the emergency flyers in the front pocket. Dad went on to demonstrate some yoga poses to help elevate the muscles that he had learnt from a guru in India, right in the middle of the walkway to immigration. A lot of people were staring, but I didn't think it was an issue given that I don't know them, and none of them were recording it on their phones. As long as none of the security picks it up, we're fine.

My mind was completely blank, except trying to reconnect the nerves to my butt. The immigration officer was a woman, and since I didn't speak a word of German, I just handed her my passport, and tried not to look like I was holding in a fart. She didn't say a word either, and punched my passport with the stamp so hard that I was surprised not to see a hole in it.

My strategy going through immigration, especially with my dad, is to just keep moving forward. There was a time he got too friendly with the immigration officer back at home and was pulled aside. Took us an hour to get through after all the checks. So I've since learnt that at least one of us can get out, so that the person can go get help if need be. Whatever it is, don't look back.

So I headed out the doors and to baggage claim. The carousel was already full of people crowding around, looking for their bags. The homophobic woman was there, passing silent judgement with each luggage that went past us. I don't get her scowl, like how do you even incur hatred from non-living things like luggage. I don't care what's in there, but on the outside it's just a bag. The screaming child was there too, this time clinging onto his dad's legs for whatever reasons.

I saw mine coming, it was an ordinary backpackers' backpack. Big enough to carry most things I need and fit on my back. I could see my father's bag coming up, and noticeably, everyone is staring. I supposed everyone would do a double take if they see a backpack draped with bright scarves, but I think I know why people are staring.

Just at that moment, my dad came jogging towards me. Before he could say anything, he saw his own backpack and reached out to grab it. The homophobic woman gasped out loud, made a sign of the cross with her hands and backed away. Others were looking, some were bewildered, and I never wanted security to arrest us more in my life. As my dad pulled the bag off the carousel, there was a snake's head, popping out from a plastic bag, out the zipper. As calm as day, my dad propped his bag upright.

"Why- Oh. No wonder, my fragile sticker was ripped." he said, inspecting the small corner of a red sticker that once belonged to a giant "Fragile, Handle with Care" sticker. He pulled out the snake to examine it, and there was an audible gasp from some of the people around. Dad obviously heard it, as he looked around.

"Not to worry, it's dead." He held it up to show everyone.

A mother quickly pulled her kids away, the screaming child was lifted off the ground by his father and disappeared into the crowd. Dad then turned to me, hoping I'll help explain, but I just stared with a raised eyebrow.

"What? It's a taxidermy snake." he said casually as though it's completely normal to travel with a snake in your bag. He then arranged it nicely on top of his things in the backpack before zipping it up. "Do you know, that in many parts of the world and throughout history, snakes symbolizes life, fertility and rebirth?"

"Do you also know that it's illegal to transport animals in a bag across countries?" I replied as calmly as I could.

"Not if you declare it first with a proper license." he winked and heaved the bag onto his shoulders.

"You actually got a license to transport dead animals?" I asked again, suddenly relieved to be feeling the same bewilderedness as with the crowd. "How many dead animals are you planning on importing?"

"You'll never know when you need things Alex, I thought I've always taught you to be prepared." he frowned.

"Yes, in emergencies like a war, or flood, or hurricane. Not getting stopped at customs for- Never mind." I turned to shoulder my own bag and walked towards the glass doors.

I was greeted with a cold autumn wind upon stepping out of the airport. Around me chatter in German had begun, and I solemnly bid farewell to hearing any English being spoken for a while. As I'm pretty much crippled language-wise, I let my dad do the talking and navigating. As mum as very acutely observed, I'm better at taking apart and piecing together things, rather than finding and discovering things. So it is with great relief that within the next hour, I was in a warm car, and dad was speeding down the highway on a road to a place I know not.

"Our first stop is Baden-Baden. It's a town right at the edge of Schwarzwald, and we can start from there." Dad said excitedly. "Mum actually has a friend who has graciously offered her house to us."

"Does she have anything to do with the snake you are carrying?" I asked, pulling out my tablet and switching it on. I thank Mum and Dad for teaching me preparedness, because the battery is full, and it's a long drive from what the GPS is telling me.

"Very good, Alex." He smiled proudly as though I had just solved the unified theory of physics. "Mrs. Fischbach is a Herpetologist, specializes in the study of frogs."

"And you think a snake, which eats frogs, is a good gift." I mused.

"It's called the circle of life." Dad continued. "Also Herpetology studies amphibians and reptiles, including snakes. You're slipping, Alex."

I disregarded that comment. I mean I like eating pizza, but that doesn't mean I have to like eating the anchovies and peppers on it.

Having lived most of his days abroad, my dad has developed a keen sense of adaptation, like how a chameleon blends into its surroundings. German roads are orderly and smooth, and dad followed most of the cars and their speed, which is incredibly insane.

"This is a German Autobahn, there's no speed limit. Best if we keep up to speed with the rest of the cars." He said as he looked over and saw me clinging onto the handle above the door, and I tugged at the seatbelt, just to check if it's intact. I plan on returning to my apartment, with the multitude of bear stuffed animals and the view of the city.

"So," I began, just to keep my mind of the possibility of dying within the next two hours. "Mum has a guest course to teach at your university, so I have to come in place to make sure you don't fall into a wishing well, and we are here in Germany, a place where I can't speak or read German, to go into this forest, called Schwarzwald, or The Black Forest, to find a mystical kingdom where they experiment with frogs to make medicine, that has vanished a gazillion years ago."

"It's not mystical. It's real!" Dad exclaimed, turning to find a car overtaking us at the speed of light.

"Based on a piece of parchment given to you by Hannibal Lecter."

"If you must know, Dr. Loughlin came across this piece of evidence over a course of two years, combing through archives of old libraries, monasteries, and even research facilities."

Wait.

"Dr. Loughlin?" I whipped my head around so hard I could hear my pony tail slap the window. "Dr. Loughlin of my cultural psychology class in college? Why the hell are you still in touch with him?"

"Because we are both anthropologists?"

"I mean besides that. He made my life hell for a semester. "Oh Alexandria, how about you give us your view on this", "Would you care to interpret this for us, Alexandria". Urgh."

"It just means your voice is valued. Do you know how many people out there can't even have a voice?" Dad countered, looking down at the map that he had propped on the dashboard.

"And do you know where you are going?" I watched the blue dot of our location veered away from the recommended route.

"Of course." he looked up again, squinted out the windscreen and took a left exit.

"I'm pretty sure we are supposed to stay on the freeway for a while longer" I turned the tablet to face him.

"Your reliance on technology is not healthy, Alex." he said, continuing on the exit. "Out in the woods, signals can fail due to interferences and geographical conditions. You have much to learn on this trip."

"All right." I slid down the seat a little because I know a lost cause when I see one. "Wake me up when we are there."

I stuffed my ears with earphones and closed my eyes. Vaguely I can hear my dad protesting, but even he knew that car rides are like Nyquil to me. The gentle humming, occasional rocking motion and my own selection of music is the perfect set of circumstances to fall asleep to. Many a times when I was younger, my dad would take advantage of this and take me on long drives just so I can sleep.

As music played in my ear, I recalled the last time I went with dad on one of these trips. It was at least five years ago, out to Sagada in Philippines. Dad had heard about something, and wanted to see for himself. For some reason mum managed to convince me to go, so I conveniently thought it was another one of those family trips to somewhere so dad and mum can have fun while at work. Or the other way around.

We trekked into a valley after being there for about two days. I was still under the assumption that we are on a leisure trip, with a pair of parents who have a terminal case of work adrenaline. After entering the valley, we headed straight for the farthest cliff. Still thinking it was just an ordinary hike, I went on to ignore whatever our guide is talking about, and concentrated on not tripping over roots of trees, and the assault of bugs. The air was humid, and I was having my own waterfall on my forehead and back to pay attention to what they were talking about.

As we close in on the cliff, I noticed there were wooden planks nailed to the side of it. Well, I guess my dad was fascinated by the old architecture ingenuity of the natives, having built walkways, or structures to allow humans to scale the cliff for their cultural or religious practices. Dad was exceptionally fascinated, as he picked up pace towards the cliff. Mum followed behind, snapping pictures as she went. I followed behind our guide, and looked up. The wooden planks turned out to be large crates, arranged in clusters, so I thought perhaps the indigenous people used them to store important ritual relics or artefacts. Our guide then turned to me.

"Your parents, are very passionate, about the culture." he spoke English, but with a very heavy Filipino accent.

"Yep, that's pretty much their job everyday." Trying not to be unfriendly, but at the same time not lie, I shrugged.

"Very seldom, do I see people so excited, to see the dead people." he laughed.

What?

I stopped in my tracks and turned to him.

"What dead people?" I asked.

"The Hanging Coffins." he gave me a bewildered look, as though I had conveniently skipped the last few hours of my life and jumped right into this moment. He pointed to the wooden crates hanging on the cliffs. "This is a very old tradition, of burying the dead high up so that nobody can disturb them. In the ancient times, where there are many headhunters and dogs, we would bury our family, up on the cliffs so their bodies are safe."

Ahead, I could hear my parents' excited voices. Really? On a family trip, we could have gone to the beach, or see volcanos, visit museums. But no. We just have to visit a graveyard. And not one on the ground, no, that would be too common, we have that almost everywhere. We want to see the uncommon ones, ones that have a history, and that's not found in other places, the kind you have to fly thousands of miles and trek through sweltering forests to see, and the sight you behold after-

I jolted awake because I got strangled by the seatbelt. I opened my eyes and I saw darkness, and my first thought was that I must have gone blind. The car had stopped, and I can hear things shuffling next to me. I turned to the source of the sound, and saw my dad squinting at the map. He flicked on the light that was blinding to my eyes, and that's when I realized the sun had set.

Outside, we are still on the road, as the beams of light from the car shone. On both sides of the road are just endless trees. I tapped on my tablet, and saw we have drifted further away from our destination Baden-Baden. The time is 8.27pm. And my stomach is not happy.

"Is it my turn to drive?" I sat up and creaked my back.

"Well I think if we continue on, and make a left turn-"

I didn't hear the rest of it as I got out of the car. I swung my arms around, stretching my aching muscles. I contemplated doing the yoga poses that dad had showed me earlier today at the airport, surely now would be a more appropriate time and place to do them, given there's no one around to judge, and my muscles will die if I don't do anything soon. The air was cold, but given I stay near the equator for most of my life, this is merely a room with AC temperature. But I do know if I don't get in soon I might actually go into hyperthermia in my tank top. Note to self, no more tank tops on this trip.

I opened the door to dad's side of the car, and he was still pointing to the map, and pointing out the road as he stepped out. I slid back in without another word, and propped my tablet on the dashboard. It recalculated the shortest possible route we can take to Baden-Baden, and I turned on the point by point commentary.

"I think we need a new map." Dad said, strapping on his seatbelt.

"No, we don't need a new map." I said, starting the car. I turned on the high beams to illuminate the road. There was not a single car, and it made me wonder where the hell dad has driven us to.

"In quarter of a mile, take a right turn"

I sped up and took a right turn. There was a sign up ahead, and dad quickly matched it with the map.

"They should make a map more friendly to drivers." dad continued, looking out the windscreen.

"You should use the more driver friendly map." I said, tapping on the tablet as I turned the car back onto a freeway. "Does mum usually drive on these trips?"

He looked uneasy.

"Yes."

There were more cars coming up and down the road now, and I gripped the steering wheel tighter. The cars are still going at incredibly insane speed, so I sped up just a little, enough to keep us alive and not get honked at. Not to brag, but I was smiling smugly internally as my dad sulked in the passenger seat. The monotonous voice on the GPS would speak once in a while, reminding me where to go, and occasionally dad would mumble how unreliable they have been to him on some of his trips. Compared to the inflight entertainment earlier, I'd take this any day.

The town of Baden-Baden, illuminated by lights loomed ahead, and I exited the freeway smoothly. Incidentally there were no cars that followed behind or up ahead, and the road was incredibly quiet. In the night, the old buildings were lit with a warm orange glow from the lights, and I fully am aware that I'm no longer in a metropolitan city anymore.

"What beauty!" Dad pressed his face against the window. "Alex look!"

It was just a fountain.

"This place is incredible!" he sprawled over the dashboard to gaze out the windscreen. "Look at the architecture, and the preservation of these old buildings. This is just like how the fairy tales looked like, Alex!"

"Can you just give me the address?" I had slowed the car down just so to find my way, not for my dad to gawk at the town.

"Yes right." he fumbled around his travel bag for papers. As he was reading it, I snatched it from him, having not understand a single word of German, and input it into the GPS. The dot blinked and the map did not move. I tapped it again, but it did not recalculate. "See! I told you, technology isn't reliable."

"That's because we are here already, Dad." I said simply, and looked out the window. By the fountain on the other side, a door opened to the house opposite. A woman in a coat came out and started waving at us. I inched the car forward and around the fountain, closer to her. She was tall and had a big smile on her face as she bent forward to look.

"Mister Drakalski!" she called as I drove nearer, her voice loud. Without another word, my dad opened the door of the slow but still, moving car. I slammed on the brakes as he unbuckled the seatbelt and hopped out.

"Mrs. Fischbach!" he hurried over and shook her hand.

"I called Caroline because you said you will be here in the afternoon. You are very late." I hear her say and my dad attempting to apologize when she stopped. "And who is that?"

I pulled on the jacket sitting on top of bag in the backseat and put it on before leaving the car. I hear her sigh and looked at me as though I was made of porcelain.

"This, must be your daughter, Alexandria." she said, as I walked towards her. I struck out my hand with a smile and shook her hand. "Firm handshake. I like that. Come, you must be hungry. You can park the car over there."

She pointed to a small entry where I assumed the carpark is. I got back into the car and inched it towards the entry. My dad walked with Mrs. Fischbach into the house. The carpark was small, just a few lots marked with white paint on the ground, but enough for our car, and possibly hers. I killed the engine, and dragged our bags out from the backseat.

The air was cold, but not winter cold. The place was quiet, I couldn't even hear anything from the house, or the neighboring houses. It was totally foreign to me, given come eight in the evening back home I will be hearing the TV downstairs play nursery rhymes and kids screaming their lungs off. The peace Baden-Baden evening has, is something welcoming, yet intimidating.

It was then I fully realized, I'm not at home anymore.


	4. Chapter 4 - Dirty

Mrs. Fischbach is the kind of woman who exist to completely debunk all my beliefs that humans are inherently annoying. She was warm and inviting, smiles all the time and laughs at the smallest of things I say. I'm glad she agrees with most of the things I say, because that has been in shortage most of my life. She has long blond hair, tied in a bun atop of her head. Her tall frame cloaked in a thick dress of navy blue. She walked with a certain air around her, that was both authoritative, yet friendly.

"Oh Alexandria, you are very right. Caroline has told me many times, "Don't let Jack drive, he'll drive you straight up the wall"." And she proceeded to laugh for the next five minutes non-stop. I'm glad someone else is helping to annoy Dad this time.

"I had the wrong map." he protested during mid-bite of the bratwurst.

"Caroline also said you'll deny it when confronted." she edged, and winked at me. Not wanting to be rude with my mouth full of chicken, I nodded and raised my beer mug at her and she burst out laughing again.

True to dad's word, Mrs. Fischbach's home is decorated with frogs. And toads. I mean literately, everywhere I look is, frogs and toads. Occasionally you'll see a monitor lizard, or turtle on the mantle, but most of them are frogs. She actually had tablecloths and placemats with art of frogs and toads. It felt like I was eating dinner in a swamp. And I didn't know they had toads that could pass as jewelry boxes.

"Oh sweetheart, that's an Ornate Horned Toad." she said quickly as I reached out and attempted to open the round puffy box-like toad by pressing on the eyes.

The room she saved aside for me was, as I suspected, decorated with frogs. Now I feel like I'm going to be sleeping in a swamp. I can hear dad in the next room marvel at the different kind of frogs, and they've started talking about medicinal frogs. I sat down on the bed, it was bouncy but soft, and next to the bed was a window facing most of the town. It looked like the one I had at home, where I would sit and look out into the city, wondering where my place in this world is.

More often than not, I've come to wonder, if my life is going to be this way till the day I die. I go to work everyday, hang out with people, go home, sleep and repeat cycle. While I disagree with what my dad insist that I come on his trips more often to throw some spark in life, I do admit, I needed a trip where I can get a different perspective in life. After all, travelling is meant to expand our minds and be exposed to new experiences.

"It's a beautiful isn't it?" I hear a voice in the doorway. Mrs. Fischbach stood there, watching me.

"Yes, this is a very nice town." I answered, getting up.

"I've always wanted to live here. My husband and I agreed that we would retire here someday. It's a shame he wasn't able come here with me when we finally had the means to." she walked over to the window.

"I'm sorry for your loss." I don't know what else to say.

"At least I could fulfill one of our dreams. We always wanted children, but I wasn't able to give him any." she turned to look at me. Well that explains the sigh, and why was warm to me. Would have loved a heads up, Mum.

"Well, it's not all fun and happy times when it comes to raising children." I tried to break the silence. "Ask my dad, or mum, how much trouble I was, even till this day. Did she tell you I took away her passport when she left for the airport to Iran on a special assignment?"

And she burst out laughing again.

"Oh Alexandria." she managed between fits of laughter. "You think too little of yourself. Caroline has always told me what a wonderful daughter you are, very self-disciplined, organized, independent."

She looked deep into my eyes, like what psychics do when they try to read your mind, before pulling me into a hug. I could start to feel her sadness and loneliness in an empty house that was meant to be shared with her husband and visiting children on holidays.

"Come, your dad said he had something to show me." she said as she patted me on my back before letting go and walking to the door. I quickly picked up my phone and tablet and followed behind. I had a suspicious feeling that it had something to do with the snake in his bag, and possibly our purpose here. The tablet and phone might just save me a slither of sanity by looking at cat pictures.

Dad was already in the living room, examining the various frogs on the wall. Mrs. Fischbach's living room might as well be a museum of frogs. She literately had shelves put up on every single wall just so to display actual specimens of frogs and toads, some in jars, others stuffed and preserved. I know what I said, that she's inviting and warm, but certainly, her house decoration is anything but. The swampy feeling has returned, and it didn't help that her wallpaper was green and brown.

"Mrs. Fischbach, now I know what you study, but I'd like to present you with this." Dad took out from behind him the same bag that contained the snake at the airport, carefully unwrapped it. Mrs. Fischbach gasped and reached forward gingerly.

"My, Mr. Drakalski." she took the snake from dad. "Vipera Orlovi, commonly known as Orlov's Viper. One of the rarest snakes in the world."

"I'm starting to think I should have checked your bags, dad." I started, taking a seat at the coffee table. "First the parchment, then the snake. For an anthropologist you sure know how to pack important stuff."

"Well they both got here in one piece, didn't they?" Dad smiled weakly and glad to see Mrs. Fischbach still fascinated by the snake and not by what I just pointed out.

"What parchment?" she asked, placing the snake on the coffee table carefully. Dad took out the folder and handed her the dirty piece of biohazard paper I saw earlier today. She tore her eyes away from the snake, and looked at the parchment that dad held out. Her seasoned eyes skimmed the words quickly.

"Ah, so you are here for the Frog Prince. I can confirm that this portion about frogs is accurate. Proteins and antibiotics from frogs skins have shown great results in the medical field." she handed the piece of parchment back to dad. "However, the existence of the kingdom, unfortunately I cannot comment as it is not my area of expertise."

"But the frogs that are mentioned here, they do exist in Schwarzwald, don't they?" Dad prodded on.

"Yes, they do. You can find all sorts of frogs and toads in Schwarzwald. They are everywhere, especially near water bodies." she explained. Dad looked slightly disappointed. "But, I might know a thing or two that might be able to help."

Her eyes twinkled as she stood up and headed for a large book cabinet adorned with thick leatherback books. She picked out one exceptionally old, and set it down on the coffee table. I did not even bother reading, as obviously everything is in German, but the drawings in the old book were awfully similar to the ones that were in Dad's folder.

"You are not the first to come to Baden-Baden and Schwarzwald to look for the mysterious kingdom of Edalewen. It is not in any official records, nor it has appeared in any stories per say, but the name does show up when people discuss wizardry and sorcery."

She opened the book and turned to a page where there were German passages, and a picture of a wizard and what looked like an apothecary table. She flipped the page, and there was a diagram on parts of frogs.

"Here we have old accounts, detailing the medical usage of different parts of a frog, that was commonly used in witchcraft." she paused. "There are plenty of stories about witches, werewolves and dwarves from Schwarzwald, but there are the less common ones, such as shapeshifters."

"Shapeshifters?" I asked, having only heard that term once or twice.

"They are lifeforms that can change their physical appearances. Some can only change into one or two forms, powerful ones can take on any form they fancy." she looked up at me and smiled.

"My grandmother used to tell me this one story, about a shapeshifter, who wanted to cross a river. So it transformed into a frog and swam across. Little did he know, on the opposite bank was a hungry snake. The snake saw the frog hopped onto land and tried to attack it. The frog hopped away, and was saved by a passing Prince who killed the snake. The shapeshifter was grateful and fell in love with the Prince, and so it transformed into a beautiful lady, and they lived happily ever after."

I decided not to be rude to the woman who has opened her house to us, by not rolling my eyes.

"My grandmother also told me of the story of the frog prince, and many tales of frogs, crows, snakes, horses, you name it." She laughed. I nodded and looked to dad, who has taken the liberty of reading the hieroglyphs that made no sense to me.

"Has anyone ever asked why the frog prince was turned into a frog?" I leaned back into her swampy log of a couch, flipping on my tablet.

"Well most of the versions tell of a wicked witch who was jealous of the prince, or simply did it because she was evil." Mrs Fischbach answered.

"Hear that dad? Don't go pissing off witches and you won't be turned into a frog." I said as I flipped on my social media page to start my cat journey.

"Those are stories Alex. Now this is interesting, it says…" and I lost track of what dad is saying as he referenced the book. I picked up my phone and told mum that we have safely arrived at Mrs. Fischbach's house, omitting the nearly freezing to death on highway, and my medical emergency hoax claim. Somehow with the chatter of my dad's incessant ramblings about things that don't make sense had the same effect of my water sound playlist.

"I'm off to bed. Thank you Mrs Fischbach for the lovely dinner and accommodation." I said as I stood up, stretched my back to hear a very uneasy creak in my spine. "Good night."

"Gute Nacht." Mrs Fischbach chirped with a grandeur that is not usually heard for "good nights". I smiled and turned towards my swamp. Closing the door behind me, muffling dad's voice, I sat down on what appears to be a tree bark comforter and looked out the window. Lights everywhere reminded me of my apartment back home, except that it is rather cold out here, and the lights are warm. I wondered again why am I here, because I am pretty sure if I protested profusely enough, I would be able to get out of it.

The lights were beginning to blur, as I feel my eyes winding my curtain lids down. I flopped down onto the bed and without another thought, I don't remember what I was thinking about earlier.


	5. Chapter 5 - Inside

The next morning arrived with my dad bursting into my room like a cannon ball with an airhorn.

"Up, up Alex! Time to go!" he sang as he shook me awake like I was a child. I slapped at what I could feel were his arms and I pulled the covers. "Oh and did you even brush your teeth before bed?!"

Surprisingly, that woke me up. Not his annoying voice, not the thought of breakfast and I'm actually oversleeping in someone else's house, but this. The fact that he still treats me like a toddler.

I sat up to pry my eyes open. Big mistake. Because my dad had spread a huge map in front of me. My ears hasn't woken up, which is a good thing since I could only make out his mouth chattering like he is freezing to death excitedly, as he gestured to parts of the map.

"… and we will be starting here. Mrs Fischbach has lent us some camping gear too!" he said and I froze in the midst of not moving.

"Camping?" I looked at him. "Why can't we come back here?"

"It's an hour away from the forest, and when we trek inside, it would definitely be hours before sunset!" he exclaimed as though I had just said something blasphemous. "Come now, get your things, shower and let's go!"

I'm not happy. Seriously not happy.

Mrs Fischbach had risen, dressed, and made us breakfast, packed lunch, and possibly a few more dinners. When I dragged my bag out to the dining table, dad is trying his best to stuff his rainbow of a bag with the packed food.

"Oh thank you so much, we would definitely be covered for a couple of days, won't we Alex?" he said excitedly.

"Guten Morgan Alexandria." she chirped with the same grandeur as the night before. This I can understand, because the sun is out, and we are supposed to have enough energy to last till it disappears on us again. "Come, would you like tea or coffee?"

I sat down at the table and pulled the pot of tea to me, as she put bread and sausages and potatoes to my plate. It looked more like lunch, than breakfast.

"Eat up, you'll need the strength." she smiled as she took my bag and began to help put the banquet she prepared in.

Camping, in my personal opinion, is a waste of time for city people like me. The notion of voluntarily giving up clean water and proper sleeping arrangement without the benefit of others is ridiculous. My mum would sometimes volunteer in third world countries for national aid programs to help the less fortunate, I've been on only one, where I was tasked to build certain facilities that will help generate electricity and direct water into certain areas where water don't generally go. Now that I can understand, having to live in places where they need help I believe anyone will say that's okay. But I draw the line when it comes to finding magic castles and kingdoms, especially not when it involves frogs.

"Thank you so much Mrs Fischbach, we'll get in touch again when we are back." dad said as I brought the car around and waited.

"Oh you're very welcomed, see you soon, have fun Alexandria!" she waved and I wave back with a smile.

"Isn't she just lovely." dad said as he closed the door beside him and I stepped on the gas. I punched the gps for our destination, which is tricky given it's technically a bunch of trees. The drive is about an hour away to the nearest forest entry, and I suppose from there dad will find a way to trek inside that deviates from normal hikers.

I remained silent throughout the drive, because I'm technically still not awake. Most people have coffee or tea, a bagel with cream cheese to wake up. I need music. But since I'm driving and there was some form of noise, coming from my dad's mouth, the call for music is a little overdue.

"There, there!" a finger shot into my line of vision, gesturing to a road sign that made no sense to me. "There's the parking for the camping sites!"

I steered the car towards the sign, and immediately met with a road block. I closed my eyes, and breathed, then I turned to my dad, who was looking bewildered.

"They must have closed this entrance." dad said as he turned around to look. The gps told me of another entrance, one that I had originally intended to take. Why did I even doubt myself?

I reversed back onto the road and continued on, ignoring my very bad navigator's alternative suggestions. I was glad that they stopped immediately upon the sight of the trees up ahead, and began making sounds of awe and things you will only hear from an encyclopedia of flora. I followed the cars that were around and found a spot. There are people unloading big tents, canisters, bags and things that looked more like they were going to build themselves a cabin instead of camping. I on the other hand, unloaded a backpack.

"Dad," I turned to see him putting on his own backpack and pulling a satchel to his front to organize his maps and papers. "Where exactly are we going to sleep? We didn't bring a tent as far as I'm concerned."

He raised a finger as though I raised a very good point.

"Mrs. Fischbach," he said as he opened the trunk of the car. "Has kindly lent us this hammock and tarp!"

He pulled out a bundle and threw it to me, it was light, dark colored, but fairly big. So I'll be sleeping with my butt vulnerable to critters and anything that pokes. Great. Then he put on the top of his backpack and continued fumbling around with his satchel. I then looked into the trunk to make sure we have everything, and sure enough, there was bottled water in there that we would have missed. I closed the doors and locked the car. Dad is now spinning on the spot like a cat with a static balloon on its back, looking up at the sky and signs around trying to find his way.

"I think it's this way." he said as he pointed at a trail. I pursed my lips, not saying a word. Sure, the entrance to a vanished kingdom, is on a well trekked trail. I looked behind me, nobody seem to be paying attention to us. Why would they? I then put on some earphones for some music, and followed my dad.

The trees tower over our heads, the air was cold and slightly damp. Soon the sound of crunching gravel and dirt against my boots, as well as the lyrics of "because I'm happy" were the only things I'm hearing. As to am I happy being inside a forest? The answer is not really. Although I do have to say, I am glad to be away from humans, other than my dad, and if coming into the forest is the way to go, why not?

I should explain. I am an analyst, a job that I hate. Hate is perhaps not the right word. The feeling is somewhere between just-take-me-in-my-sleep and go-to-hell. I hate humans, and the fact that I was briefly cursed with feelings for a co-worker didn't help. And my plethora of imbecile clients only serves to prove my beliefs that humans are scum.

Irony abounds, where I blatantly disapprove of fairytales, and yet I'm here searching for the existence of one, whilst running away from people I cannot spend another second with. The idea of falling in love is a foreign one, one that I have never quite entertained in my head properly, except to fantasize that perhaps one day I might meet someone who would sweep me off my feet. But that was about it. I never really quite formularize anything after being swept, would it be dates, what would we talk about? Is it three out of seven days a week for dating? Do I have to share my popcorn or is he okay with eating my leftovers? Does this mean I have cut my lazing around at home time? Oh and what about the sleeping arrangement, is it okay to say that I do not like people sleeping on my bed other than me and my bears?

It's confusing. Falling in love that's easy. What happens after that, I have no clue. Most movies don't tell us that. In fact, any historical story that shove people towards the idea of love, ends right after they both realize and confess love to each other. And all these considerations are summarized by one simple sentence. "And they lived happily ever after". Nobody wrote about how to divide the house or apartment so that two people can live together, nobody mentioned about a bathroom schedule, nobody has a guidebook about whose turn is it to change the sheets. So excuse me for having unrealistic expectations and incomplete information to go on about the subject. Life is hard enough navigating the aisles of the grocery store and having a cart full of chips and candy, let alone having to co-decide if we want the AC on or off. Nope.

At this point my legs have sent a signal to interrupt my thoughts about the confusion of life. I looked down and saw that the trail has gone. I turned around to see nothing but undergrowth. We've walked away from the trail, and I didn't realize it.

"Dad." I called ahead to the spinning man.

"Alex come look at this!" it's that voice again, something interesting has presented itself. More often than not it's quite the opposite, things usually don't want to be found, especially in the presence of my dad. Ask the antique dealer around the corner where his university is.

I begrudgingly walked over to see him bent like the hunchback of Notre Dame with a beady eye against what seemed to be a formation of a rock. It looked familiar.

"This is it!" my dad thrusted me the white paper with a sketch on it. It was the one I saw on the plane, where the rock that was bent out of shape by a semi. "So it is true!"

"What's true?" I asked, handing him back the paper. "Someone came, saw this, drew it for you."

He snapped a look at me and opened his map.

"This way." he said excitedly as he marched on with too much energy towards a direction that the rock pointed. I followed suit, and something made me turn back. Now from a distance, the rock looked like a finger, pointing. Turning back to my overly enthusiastic dad, it seemed too farfetched of an idea to go on with. That seemed to be the case, because for the next two hours, I was tired from walking around in circles.

"Dad, you are not going about in the right way." I said as I leaned against the finger rock for the third time.

"Alex, it's pointing in this direction, and we are going the right way." he protested.

"This may be the right way, but you are using the wrong method." I argued. "We are just following this without a proper line of direction which is why we end up walking around it each time we make a small slanted deviation."

I took out my phone with the compass and pointed with the finger rock. It was not north, but I'll work with that.

"This time, you follow me." I say as I took a swig of my water and started walking. Each time we deviate by even one degree I steer back to make sure we stay on course. The forest looked the same everywhere. Well, how different can it be since it's just trees and grass and more trees with ferns, and grass, and more trees and leaves, and grass. There was grumbling behind me, I decided to ignore.

At this point I have no idea what is going on, because I'm not the one who wants to be here, and I'm now following the direction given to us by a rock, searching for a sign I know naught of.

"What are we looking for if we are heading this way?" I asked as I stopped. My dad didn't, because he bumped into me.

"Another sign I guess. Maybe we can find this one." he held out the other piece of paper with the broken rock. Right. "Let's take a break, and have some lunch!"

He sat down quickly and put down his bag, stretching his arms and legs with a very uncalled "ahh". Dad then opened his bag and took out the first wrapper that was a sandwich that Mrs. Fischbach made earlier.

"Come on Alex, have some food. You packed some I saw you." he pointed at my bag. Reluctantly, shifted some fallen leaves onto a pile, before sitting on it. I then took out my own wrapper which could pass for a wake-up call by itself. The smell of roasted ham and cheese was certainly out of place in a forest, but it was something that reminded me of civilization. I decided to eat only half of it, in case we ended up stranded out here with no food because we ate all of it. On the other hand, dad decided to finish his.

"Dad." I said as he stretched and rotated his feet for some exercise. "Why is this so important to you?"

"Because it would be the biggest discovery of the century!" he said as though it was totally obvious. I noticed a lot of people say that about their inventions and discoveries. Everything needs to be big. A few years ago everyone was still talking about the smallest big things, like the smallest phone, or the smallest camera. Nowadays you have a small phone you're just asking to be made into a meme.

"Just that?" I asked again.

"Just that." he said with a twinkle. It is very unlike my dad, someone who seem to always be stumbling upon things and making discoveries nobody asked for. Perhaps this is the same, someone, or rather a certain annoying lecturer I know, gave my dad just enough nudge in this direction and here he is. Bring your daughter to work, which happens to be wandering around aimlessly in the forest with limited resources till we find some funny looking rocks.

"Fine." I said as I zipped my bag, and stood up. "Now what?"

"We continue down the direction we came, and see if we can find the next rock." he said.

"Yes and after we find it?" I asked, slightly impatient.

"We examine it and find the next clue." he said as he looked at the piece of paper with the sketch. "It probably won't help in giving directions because this doesn't look like…"

He began turning the paper upside down and upright again to examine.

"Well you're not getting any examination done if you're sitting on it." I say. He looked up at me and then down between his legs, before springing up like he sat on hot charcoal.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier Alex!" he yelled as he crouched down to examine it. By examining I meant hug it. It wasn't very big, but enough for him to sit on. It was irregularly shaped, but cut off at the top which made it suspicious as to how it could have been. I sat back down on my pile of leaves and waited. "… this is amazing Alex, now it must be cut in some way, because this, doesn't look natural…"

I sometimes wonder what mum sees in dad, especially given that they met in a forest. Was dad fawning over a rock back then like now? I never asked them properly about this, and certainly this isn't the right time. While I shudder at the notion of myself as part of a two person relationship, I must admit that without this concept of love, I wouldn't even be here. But the idea of me in their position is something I could not fathom. Do I see myself making googley eyes at someone, or constantly wondering about this person? I certainly did a few months ago, and it wasn't great times I would say. Being on one side of it and knowing nothing is happening on the other side, is not the greatest feeling in the world. The saving grace was that this was someone I knew wasn't good for me, so I had the moral obligation to myself to not say or do anything except to get over it as soon as possible.

It was as easy as getting my dad to shut up about fairy tales. Over the months it was just getting over, and getting back, and getting over and getting back. Sort of like a wash cycle after a trip. You have tons of laundry to do so the machine keeps going and you have the honor of getting it to dry and ironing them and storing them before going back out to do another load. Was it worth it? Debatable.

"Alex are you listening?" I snapped out of my daze to look at my dad, who is now crouch down and hugging it from above.

"No." I answered as I got up and went over. "Why are you hugging it?"

"I was saying, don't you think this looks like a statue of a frog but was cut off?" he said as he attempts to roll the cut edge over. "Come help me!"

I frowned as I bent down to look at it. It looked nothing like a frog.

"Might help if you loosen the dirt around it first." I said as I dug my boots into the ground and shoved. Dad got up and began to do the same. The rock seemed to be half buried in the ground, and the more we dug the more it began to move.

"Alex this is it!" he yelled louder as he brushed away some dirt. "Look! It has worn down a lot over the years but this is clearly the frog's feet!"

I'm still not seeing it.

I then went over to his side so I can push the rock over and hopefully out of the hole. I'm not used to hard labor, and evidently even after countless of hikes and outdoor field trips, so was my dad. After much heaving and argh-ing we finally managed to tip the rock over.

At this point I do see the resemblance to a frog. The cut edge was actually a base to which the dirt covered worn down frog stood. Dad's yips and yelps then now filled the air as I was suddenly hugged by a pair of very dirty hands and carried around in hops.

"I TOLD YOU IT WAS TRUE!" he screamed into the forest. "YES!"

"Okay can you stop screaming?" I said as I held the man who is my father down. "There are people and animals, around in this forest and I don't want to attract anything that can potentially kill me."

He wasn't done.

"This is an amazing discovery!" he then knelt down to examine the frog. "This means there was a civilization within the forest before, because this isn't natural, it had to be carved! This changes EVERYTHING!"

"Yes this is all very exciting, but how do we find it?" I cut him off. "This is an artifact, I'll give you that. But it doesn't help give us any coordinates or directions."

"We'll find it!" he said excitedly as he brushed away more dirt from the frog. "We'll find directions I just know we will!"

I considered the option to call my mum for help to calm a very delirious and excited dad, but I think it might make things worse.

"How?" I asked again. He stood up and looked around, there was nothing. Except a frog on the ground. "Alex look, there's a frog!"

"Incredible. We find a frog statue, and a live frog. What, are we going to ask it for directions?" I said, nodding sarcastically as I looked at the frog on the ground. It was about palm size, very green with spots on its back, and very uncanny because it is not afraid of the lunatic human presence that is my dad and me.

"Don't be silly Alex." he said as he began to fumble around for his map.

"Hello Mister Frog, my name is Alex. This is my dad, and we mean you no harm." I said slowly to the frog, gesturing with my hands as though it was a cave man. My dad then stared at me derisively. "We are looking for a lost kingdom. Lost, kingdom, with a castle, can you help us?"

I motioned with my hands waving, and making a pointy house top for castle. The frog looked straight ahead with no movements.

"Alex stop it!" my dad snapped as he held out his map. "Come and help me. These coordinates should help narrow down our search vicinity."

Maps and numbers, happen to be a language I speak. GPS is also my friend. At this point it was hard to argue with me so my dad let me lead the way to one of the could-be spots on the magic number paper.

As we trekked further, there was more dense trees and undergrowth. Some part of me was glad that we are sleeping in hammocks and not in a tent. The sun began to go down as the forest sank into a bit of darkness. I insisted to set up camp even though dad wanted to press on. I win, by turning off the GPS.

Dad was apparently good at making fire, while I tried my best to find a good spot between two trees to set up my hammock.

"Alex get away from there, those are dead trees." he said and then gestured to the other side. Maybe dad does know a couple of things about being in a forest. It took me a while to set up my hammock to the right tension and height, as well as the tarp above it that will hopefully keep anything ghastly from falling down on me. I decided to put my sleeping bag in the hammock for extra comfort and warmth, and not because I felt my back was too exposed.

The sun was going down fast, and I pulled up my jacket. I then sat down next to the fire and ate the other half of the sandwich I saved from earlier. Dad was leaning against the log nearby, scribbling in his journal. The place was quiet, a little too quiet for my liking. I spent so much time wishing I was away from people, and yet, it felt quite uncomfortable.

"Dad do you ever get lonely out here?" I asked as I stowed away the wrapper.

"Sometimes," he said, not looking up from his journal. "But when I do, I have this."

He held up a satellite phone, something I didn't know he had. Then he started punching numbers.

"Hey honey." oh god he called mum. "Everything is fine, we've set up camp! And we made an amazing discovery! Of course I love you, you're the greatest discovery I have ever made."

"Nite dad." I said as I got up and towards him. "Nite mum!"

I didn't wait for him as I took off my shoes and climbed into my hammock. Good thing I have earphones.


	6. Chapter 6 - Story

The thing they never tell you when you start to question the logistics of not having a bathroom outdoors, is that you do have to make certain arrangements in order to still function as a human being. I think I would like to retract my statement that my dad is crazy, because turns out, he does know a thing or two about living in a forest hygienically and bio-friendly. I woke up to a freshly dug hole in the ground away from camp and there was biodegradable toilet paper and water with soap.

Suffice to say, my day did not start well.

I should say that back home, when I do live alone, like when my parents are away on their trips, I wake up to the sound of cars and honks, next to my very mellow alarm on the phone, surrounded by stuffed polar bear and smell of cotton. Sometimes polyester, I don't get to decide what materials they are made in. So it is definitely sheer horror, when I woke up to sounds of birds, chilly dampness and a gust of wind that was very uncalled for when I answered nature's call speed dial one. Certainly was not better with call two, when there is a frog, staring at you.

"Dad, the frog is back." I say as I returned to camp, after burying my toilet.

"What frog?" he asked, and I could see on his face he actually entertained the thought that the stone frog followed us in the middle of the night. As ridiculous as it sounds, I just pointed to the ground where the green spotted frog stood. "It could be any frog, there's plenty of frogs in the forest."

"Yes but do they come so close to humans, and actually stare at people when they are going to the toilet?" I continued to point.

"They are just curious, now let's pack things up, we have a lot more walking to do." he said as he reached to tug the tarp above his hammock and did a fantastic twist when he lost his footing and got caught inside the hammock, did a triple turn before a spectacular land on the ground face down. I would give him a perfect score at the olympics.

I sat down to eat my breakfast first, given I am used to at least some form of milk or juice, not so much a coffee or tea person early in the morning. Dad has gone to the stage where he starts verbalizing his thoughts about what he found on his map with magic numbers and what his theories are, without care if there is an audience, or not. I wondered at times, if dad has always been like this, and if mum were here, would she be entertaining him. I most certainly am sure that she would, something I evidently cannot even fathom myself doing.

I do envy them sometimes, having someone who fully supports their life work and is always amazed at what they have to say to each other. Then and is always amazed at what they have to say to each other. Then I began to wonder if something is wrong with my life that at thirty years old I've lived my whole life as a single person. Am I really destined to spend this life alone? Or is there something fundamentally deep rooted within myself that I have yet to admit or even discover. Like the fear of intimacy, or something ridiculously cliché. The sight of seeing two people touching and kissing is nice, but whenever I thought of me in that position all I can think about is how ticklish that would be, and the saliva, oh god the saliva. And don't get me started with the taste. What if the person was, eating vegetables before kissing me, like, a dinner salad, or prawn, or something I don't eat? Eww!

And now that I think about it, as I recall the foundation of this trip is about a frog who, some versions of the stories go, was kissed by a princess which turned him back into a prince.

At this point I believe kissing someone who ate vegetables or prawn before doesn't seem too bad. I would like to stick to the version where the princess let the frog sleep on her bed for three days. I do not want to throw up my precious breakfast in the middle of the forest.

It was dad's turn to eat his breakfast, as well as scatter his fire campsite while I keep my tarp and hammock. I would say this, that despite sleeping totally unguarded in a forest, the hammock is a much better choice than a tent. Considering how bumpy it is and that frogs make their way around. The idea of one hopping onto my face, not so nice.

There's this saying that goes around the internet and media for a while. "You need to kiss a few frogs, before you find your prince." I would think that is just encouragement and inspiration for girls to not give up the quest for true love, and that we live in a time where we apparently don't know what it really meant to be settling for less. I see people getting with people who aren't good for them, pretending it's true love. At least I had the sense to not act upon a crush on someone I know is not good for me. Respect for myself.

"Let's go Alex. We have a lot of ground to cover." Dad said as he brought out his map again. "If we continue in the same direction we came from, we would be heading straight for one of the coordinates on this map."

"Is it anywhere near civilization where we can go back?" I asked as I pointed my compass and GPS in the right direction again.

"But we just got here!" he cried behind me. I cannot help but wonder who is the parent here in this situation.

I stomped on the ground towards the dense forest, well aware that I know nothing about what's up ahead. Dad has gone back to mumbling again, and I decided not to listen anymore. Whenever I'm bored, I began to write my own fairytales, involving a certain someone, with a totally different personality, in a different scenario. What if he happens to be hiking here too? And we bump into each other, and we began to hike together, we find the magic lost kingdom, and throughout the time he got to know who I am, and we ended up together?

Then what? We go back to the city, start dating? Is it three out of seven days a week for dating? Do I have to share my popcorn or is he okay with eating my leftovers? Does this mean I have cut my lazing around at home time? Oh and what about the sleeping arrangement, is it okay to say that I do not want him sleeping on my bed other than me and my bears?

I never could find a different outcome. It always comes down to this huge logistical problem that I have no answer for. I could never form a proper story where it all ends well and that I'm happy. It's always too farfetched, or the guy isn't that kind of person, or downright unrealistic. I concluded it is because I never had experienced it in my life, to be so inexperience in thinking and formulating. It's a vicious cycle, much like job hunting these days with the pre-requisite of experience. Chicken and egg.

People say, it's important to believe. New age thinkers say it's important to visualize and use positive thinking to attract what you want in life. I've heard it all. And yet all I've attracted, is a man I can't have. Or rather, don't want. So if I didn't want that, why did it come to me if it isn't something that I wanted and attracted?

I believe in myself. Greatly. Well not all the time but I'd like to think most of the time I do, be it work, or life. I'm the most dependable person, for myself. If not me, who? So it's not entirely right to say that I don't believe in anything. I just only share the same believes with my parents. That is me.

"What?" I stopped as I looked up, and down at my compass and gps. "How is this even possible!"

"What? What's going on?" dad rushed forward. "Alex you took us back."

"I headed straight!" I said as I showed him the compass and gps. I looked around, hoping this was not our campsite earlier, but someone else's. But no. I saw my buried mound of a toilet. This is it.

"this is why I told you not to rely on technology." he said with a hint of smugness. He consulted his map and up at the trees. "this way."

I don't get it. How could it be that I kept a straight bearing but we walked right back to our campsite? Dad was getting farther and farther away. I was determined to prove it this time. So I followed, and kept a sharp eye on my compass. Not even a single degree deviation.

Then it happened again.

"Wha-How?" dad spun around again at our campsite.

"face it dad, we are lost." I said as I sat down to drink water. "The GPS is not wrong and we ended up back in the same place even when we headed straight. We're stuck here."

"No, no. we are not." I've heard about dad's stubbornness. "I'm sure if we calm down, we'll find a way."

I can't help but roll my eyes, and hang my head to rest. And my eyes came to meet a frog's gaze.

"Dad." I said, hoping to catch his attention. "dad."

"what is it Alex, are you helping me or not?" he turned around with a huff.

"the frog is back." I said as I pointed. "it's the same one. Look."

"maybe he's been here the whole time." dad said, turning back to his map, and pulling out more notes.

"hello mister frog, sir frog." I said to the frog, as I put down my backpack. "can you help us? We are lost."

"alex." my dad frowned.

"we are good people." I gestured to me, and my dad. "and we are looking for, dad what's the city called again?"

"alex this is no time to play pretend, we have to find a way." he argued.

"a way to where?" I asked.

"Edalewen!" he protested, as though I was hoping he'll say town, or civilization, or home.

"thank you." I smiled. "mister frog, good sir frog, we are looking for Edalewen. Have you heard of this place?"

The frog inflated its belly.

"Is that a yes?" I asked again. "Puff twice for yes."

Ribbit. Ribbit.

I opened my mouth, at first to laugh, but I stopped. It did give me two puffs. I looked at the frog, it looked at me. It should be my imagination. Dad is still looking at the map. I then look back at the frog. I shuffled closer, it didn't move.

"Can you take us there?" I said, softly this time. "two puffs, for yes."

Ribbit.

Ribbit.

I'm very sure I've gone mad. I stood up abruptly. The frog then turned to a direction and hopped. And turned back. It is too uncanny.

"dad." I began. I held out my compass, it was still in the same direction where we are heading. "dad let's try again."

Dad turned to me and came over. He saw me looking at the frog, whose back is now turned against us, and my compass in the direction he wants to go.

"alex."

"Dad." I said. "you're looking for a magic kingdom, it wouldn't hurt to try something magic."

"we can get seriously lost or injured!" he cried. "do you know how dangerous it is in the forest?"

"I know, but at the same time, we are still heading in the same direction twice we came from. It wouldn't hurt to follow and if it doesn't pan out we'll still end up back here." I countered. Dad seemed to contemplate my suggestion. I looked down, the frog has turned to face us again.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." he said as he bent down to look at the frog. "this is a common frog, though a little big."

"talk to it, he might respond." I said with a shrug, and got a glare from my dad. The frog then turned and hopped towards where we are going. "let's go dad."

"what's gotten into you!" he said as he straightened to follow me.

"I'm doing it your way. By having a little faith."


	7. Chapter 7 - Home

I'm following a frog in a forest to look for a magical fictional kingdom in a fairytale. This is something I don't think I'll ever be able to tell people with a straight face, not that I have many people to tell this to. But dad has a report to write, so good luck with that.

I'm getting very tired from all the walking, and stopping. It's not my fault if my legs are longer than a frog's. also because I'm not exactly in the right physical form. In fact I'm very appalled by my energy level yesterday having made my way into this forest to begin with. And at this point I'm starting to wonder if the frog is leading me to a cliff so I could fall off and not disturb the peace of the woodland creatures who made their home here by stomping around.

I have struggled with weight issues since I could remember. Fitness used to be with me, but so has food. Eventually one side won, and I never really could help myself get the scale back on balance. Procrastination is also the main villain in this story of me being fat. Sometimes I'm glad to be fat, because I can't imagine being blown to the side by wind, or falling over just because someone knocks into me on the subway. Other times I loathe being fat, because shopping for clothes is a constant nightmare.

I've wondered if deep down, I used obesity as a defense mechanism. Against people, bad people, and a lot of things. It sounds counterintuitive, but being fat seems to have made me less of a target by men who need sex, social occasions that require heavy makeup, and general rejection from society. Being fat, automatically puts you in the background, or even become invisible because while people see you, they try to ignore you, especially sales people in clothing shops. The only people who comes up to me are weight loss centers, deliberate haters, and people in need to hit their sales targets. But those people are generally scared away if you have a fierce enough aura, and that's a topic for another time.

Being out in the forest makes me feel a lot less big, because trees are big, but people don't call them fat. In fact, the fatter the tree, the better. Leaves can be big, people don't judge, in fact bigger leaves means natural umbrella just in case. Animals who are big, like bears, tigers, they don't get judged. But then again, they have the muscles and size for a totally different purpose. Mine so far is just distancing people, and more insulation during cold weather.

Come to think of that, now the frog is annoying me. For being so small. But then again dad said it's bigger than usual. Maybe it gets laughed at by its species here. And now I've gone into the realm of mentally arguing about obesity with a frog. What is wrong with me?

Ribbit. Ribbit.

I don't speak frog, and it could be telling us "not much further", or "beware of snakes", or "can I ride on your backpack", for all I know. I'm just going to follow because I don't have time to learn frog.

It's not like I haven't tried anything to get my weight down for health purposes, they just don't work. Either because I'm not consistent enough, or persistent enough, whichever one, or because my mind just don't believe that one day I might just fit into a size M instead of an XXXL. And is there some part of my head that doesn't want to slim down? Other than the idea that perhaps guys might notice me and ask me out, wouldn't that actually mean they are shallow? And by that logic if I couldn't get a date since I was born is because I'm fat, does that mean the whole world, at least in my immediate vicinity, is shallow? Then why do I see fat couples working out together? They have a fairytale meet cue, and they are now working together to get healthy. Their fairytale ends happy! So do I have to go to the gym now? But why is it that most of the gyms only have muscled people and those who are running a marathon on the treadmill?

Getting off topic. I'm sure there are other factors, like personality, and behavior, and intelligence that contribute to the perpetual single status of my life.

The frog has stopped. Without a warning. Which resulted in me almost squashing it to a frog pancake under my ginormous weight. I looked at it, then at my dad. Apparently he has stopped mumbling.

"This looks different." he said as he stepped forward. "we haven't encountered a large log like this."

Large, is an understatement.

"dad this is not large. This is humungous. I can actually walk inside without bending my head." I snapped. "what tree is this! It doesn't even look like it's from around here."

"very astute Alex!" his ability to focus on the wrong things always appalls me. "yes this is not from around here… it's even hollowed."

He through one end towards the end and took a step forward.

"dad we can walk around it." I rolled my eyes.

"yes but this is amazing wood! Look." he pointed. "this is triple reinforced rain washed titanium fiber wood."

Or at least that's what it sounded like to me. Another string of gibberish that only he understood. The frog had hopped inside. And is facing us with the back glow of the other end lighting it's frame.

Ribbit. Ribbit.

I just wish he can speak human. It turned and began to hop, before turning around again to look at us.

"dad it wants us to follow." I say.

"well then let's go!" he turned excitedly and hunched his back so he could fit in the hollowed tree log.

"since when are you so enthusiastic about following a frog?" I rolled another round of my eyes. I swear it was just to clear my vision.

"in my travels, Alex, sometimes it doesn't hurt to believe in the unexplained." he said as he supported himself on both sides of the rotting wood and walked. I refuse to touch it, so I'm gingerly following behind, with bent knees and a dipped head. I don't foresee washing my hair anytime soon and spiders are the last things I want in them.

"good luck with your report dad." I said as I followed from behind. "I followed a frog in the woods when I was lost. And it lead me to a hollowed tree log that is a magic portal to another realm where the magic kingdom sits, preserved in time in pristine condition."

I almost tripped on a bumpy end so I had stopped, just to get my footing.

"alex." dad called, apparently he had made it out of the log in such eagerness that it was as if he wore winged boots. "I don't think it was pristine, but you're not entirely about the portal."

I had to crouch to take a moment to contemplate the madness coming from the other end of the log. From my point of view I could only see a partial of his form but I could tell he is frozen. From shock. Of something. I clamored my way, avoiding touching the sides and emerged at the other end so I can straighten my back which is now screaming bloody murder.

"what dad?" I huffed as I put down my bag to rest. He pointed ahead. This might be a good time to wake up. Except I wasn't sleeping, and I'm totally awake.

We are standing on top of a hill, overlooking what seemed to be ruins of an ancient city, and far off, unmistakably is an abandoned castle. My hairs were standing on ends under my jacket, and my head is trying to rationalize the fact that I just passed through some sort of a platform nine and three quarters wall. Which would have been fruitless, even without the screams and yells coming from next to me, and I was suddenly being grabbed, just like yesterday and lifted off the ground rapidly.

"WE FOUND IT! ALEX WE FOUND IT! IT'S REAL! IT REALLY EXIST!" my right ear is now ringing because it might have gone deaf from the screams. This, is unbelievable, even for dad.

"dad wait stop!" I grabbed him as his face was covered in tears, remind me to tell mum he cried. "what just happened!"

"uh, uh we must have come through a time portal, or space thing, I don't know. All I know is we found it!" he continued to scream.

"stop!" I grabbed him again. "this doesn't make sense. We climbed through a log, and emerged on the other side, this could be an illusion, or we could have, I don't know inhaled some toxic substance that is making us hallucinate."

"wha…?" my dad frowned.

"where's the frog?" I asked as I looked at the ground. It was gone.

"it was here a second ago." dad ruffled through the ferns. I crouched down to see through the log, there was nothing but an empty forest. "okay alex, you are seeing what I'm seeing right?"

"a ruin city with a castle." I said as I looked again, despite blinking for the hundredth time.

"that's what I'm seeing." he said. "do you feel giddiness, or nausea?"

"nope. But I'm getting light-headed from this!" I gestured to the entire place.

"yes so am I, which means we aren't hallucinating." he said confidently.

"how is that even a conclusion!" I screamed.

"we've come this far, we have to see for ourselves what's in there!" he said as he made his way down the slope.

"Dad!" I called.

"come on alex!" he shouted. "we have much to discover!"

"urgh!" I picked up my bag and began sliding down the slope in a very horrible mario kart way. Dad is now ecstatic, I looked at my phone and gps, neither of them is getting a signal, and the compass has stopped working completely. The time now is 12.02. dad is now running ahead towards the gates of the city, which from afar, is a stone wall, but crumbled at some places.

"you can't tell but this says Edalewen up there." he said as I stopped to catch my breath. He is now standing under the gates and pointing up. "this is it alex! WE FOUND IT!"

This is a time when I really wished I was in a better state of health. So I can catch up to him and perhaps knock him out of this hallucination.


	8. Chapter 8 - Sun

There comes a point in every interaction with my dad, where I will begin to wonder how is it possible for someone to love their job so much that they are willing to sacrifice personal time to do unfathomable things. Like taking your daughter on a wild goose chase for a magic kingdom of frogs.

Speaking of frogs, that particular one who brought us here, is gone. I have a suspicion that it's not a frog anymore, and I should be weary.

The sun is shining bright directly above my head, indicating that, it's time for lunch, but evidently it's not happening, seeing how my dad is prancing around like a magic pixie horse who just discovered glitter.

I should explain, though I doubt it will make much sense. The story thus far is that I've been plucked out of my comfortable home, into a forest because of my dad's work, and we followed a frog through a time space portal and discovered an abandoned medieval style kingdom that supposedly nobody in the hundreds of years have found. Sounds unbelievable, I agree. I don't have a logical explanation, but I'm just going to go with it for survival sake.

I would like to take some time to understand where the primary source of my agony comes from. It certainly isn't because I find it hard to believe everything that is happening, though I'm sure that's a part of it. It could be because I'm tired and hungry, with no fast food delivery available, and also the sheer horror of having to answer nature's call, naturally. I've always been annoyed by pretty much everything people say, so what difference does it make when it came out from my dad. But perhaps, just perhaps, it might be because of our conflicting views of our work.

I'm genuinely happy for my dad that he has found a job that he loves that he feels the need to infect me with it. On the other hand I am genuinely unhappy that I have not found a job that makes me go to work the way dad does. I make decent money, that lets me indulge in frivolous habits like buying stuffed polar bears, scented candles, video games, fried chicken and imported snacks. But does it give my life meaning? No. Does it contribute to society like everyone expects you to? No. I can go on with questions all day, but my answer will always be no.

I don't like the people, I don't like the environment, I certainly don't like my clients, they classify as people so yeah. I envy the people who can look at their work as just work, something to go and spend a good few hours doing as little as possible, and go home or go party. Ironically, I have issues with people like that. Because they don't add value to anything anyone does, but they depreciate the work that people do. By driving everyone up the wall as though it's their right to do so.

If you take a look at human history, it's a species that has advanced rapidly during the short time that we are here as compared to other species. I am darn sure that nature never asked for nuclear weapons and its components, but we came up with it. And I feel, as humans it is our duty to harness this ability with our big brains to do good, or at least reverse the things certain idiots in history has done. Hitler, you are not welcomed.

But there is a majority of human population, who prefers to reverse evolution and go back to being apes. Or rather, evolve into a completely different species of apes that embraces every possible stupid idea that can be conceive. And right on top of the list is taking for granted this cognitive ability that evolution has graced us with, by doing nothing except generating waste.

I'm talking about people who rely solely on others for work but still get paid, people who take credit for others work, and people who start wars for the fun of it. Trump, you're also not welcomed. If anything you are the leader of this new species of apes that I hope never gets excavated when you are extinct.

Dad has a different take on humans, saying that humans are proven to be social creatures, and that communities only work if there are leaders and followers. Too many leaders and nothing gets agreed upon, no leaders and nothing gets done. Which I will inevitably argue with him that nature never asked for political parties, do we have prove that in the animal kingdom or at least amongst monkeys there are decision makers who decide on what every monkey does? The rest of the argument I never bothered to remember, because mostly I don't understand and my brain kicks in my emergency fried chicken craving as a survival instinct.

And what is with people kissing asses to get where they don't deserve to go? Whatever happened to meritocracy where good are rewarded and bad are punished? Who decided that the old carrot and stick doesn't work anymore? Was it the rise of education and gradual shifts of self-awareness and rights that made people demand things that they will take from others?

Dad certainly did not have to kiss any ass to get tenure, and mind you, it's tenure with only one functional semester of teaching. Simply because dad sucks at kissing ass. The man opens his thesis with "I apologize for the dry twigs of information that I have gathered here during my three months of studying the people who did not want to be disturbed". Then who, then may I ask, is ensuring the lecture theater is filled with people who have better places to be and boring the pants off these people, on my dad's behalf while he's out finding magic castles? One might argue that dad is part of this whole society that supports the free pass forever when you start with one great merit and a clean slate. If so why are we encouraged to give second chances to guys who cannot seem to keep their pants on? But that's a topic for another time.

I don't get how dad can prance for this long. I would prefer us to check out the castle first, but his neurosis of not missing any detail is acting up and he insist on looking at all the houses and village huts and the abandoned carts and stone walls and basically nothing that is of interest to me. Torn down houses, or wood workshop I can't tell, turn of the century barns, and things that I cannot even begin to decipher.

"dad, can we go now?" I asked.

"why? We just got here alex!" he exclaimed as he turned over a wooden barrel. "where is your sense of curiosity? Come help me I need to document this!"

"okay, if that's the case, I'm going to go this way, and see what's on this side and let you know." I say as I pointed down the street, in the direction of the castle.

"that's the spirit!" dad punched the air, and for a moment I thought he was going to attack hug me, but thank god no. I picked up my bag and walked further down. Being so lost in my own thoughts, I forgot my personal main goal of coming here.

I needed to get away from people, and my own instincts told me that a forest might be the best way to go. And I did, albeit reluctantly. It has been a huge fall out of a year, with my job going downhill, walking out of a few psychos, and fighting internally about growing old and growing up. I need some time away. And being out here, despite the absurdness of a magic kingdom lost in time and space, makes me feel a whole lot better.

The streets, seemed to be picked out of a fairytale movie, wooden and brick walls that are worn down suggests eventually people leaving this place in abandonment. I guess that is what happened to most of the kingdoms in the past, I mean no dynasty lasts forever, just like how I want the current reigns to end. The castle seem to be far ahead, and I'm hoping in the past, people do have horse carriages or carts or at least something because going from one place to another without at least some mode of transportation, sounds impossible. I wonder if all these walking is going to make me slim down. That reminds me I need to eat lunch.

I started a new sandwich, this time I need the entire thing. The craving for fried chicken has not subsided and I fear that the end is imminent if I don't find any soon. And I'm getting tired, my back is hurting, my shoulders are hurting, my feet are hurting. I'm hurting. But, there is what appears to be a abandoned wheel cart, but no horse or donkey in sight. I walked over as I looked at it, munching in my sandwich. The wheels are intact, although greatly worn down. Seems sturdy. Who has not ever, pushed a shopping cart at the supermarket and rode on it for however brief before jamming our own leg breaks so we don't crash into a shelf of jams and jellies?

I put my bag into the cart, not without making it break a little with creaks and crumbling noises. I pushed it to the main road to see that it still works, on ground that are slightly littered with cobblestones and uneven ground. I gave it a shove, held onto it and used my leg as a paddle to keep pushing forward as the cart began to roll. Of course, I did not see the slightly inclined downhill and the cart began to move on its own. Now I'm making great time, going in a direction that I don't really know, on a vehicle that I have no control over.

Despite so, I couldn't help but feel a sense of fun and happiness in me. It felt like for the first time, I'm free. I can do whatever I want, in a place where literally there is no one around to judge. I can turn this cart into a skate board where I sit, who cares? I can ride as fast as I can, nobody is going to jump out for me to crash into. I'm beginning to suspect perhaps this is what dad is really after. The solitude, the isolation, the discovery. Is it too late to change my career path…?

I slowed the cart, in case the ancient age of the wood is unable to withstand this heavy weight donut eating champion. The castle is getting closer, and sure enough, it actually really looked like the one on dad's sketch. It makes me wonder how he got hold of them, or rather how Dr. Loughlin got hold of these. Why wouldn't he come to see for himself? Why, get dad to do it? I'm not interested in what he is up to these days, and suffice to say if he says he's busy elsewhere studying human sacrifices, I would believe.

I stopped at the castle gates. There is no moat, which was surprising, and the gates were shut. Huge, intimidating iron doors, that for some reason has not rusted. I pushed against it, despite knowing full well that it will not move. I stood back and looked again. The stone walls have cracks on them, and as cliché as it is, there are vines growing. I began to follow the outer wall, hoping to see at least some kind entry. Surely the ninjas and assassins and rebels in movies always have a way of entering a castle must be based on some truth?

As I walked, I hear water. There must be a river somewhere. I picked up pace with hopes of a bath. And sure enough, there was a stream with crystal clear water running over bumpy rocks and ground. That means a bath. In frigid temperatures. I looked up at the water source, and it seemed to be right next to the castle. Surely there must be an entry way if that's the case. I doubled back for my bag and bottle, glad to have a refill, hopefully it isn't poisoned, and I followed the edges up towards the side of the castle walls. I could see crumbling stone walls, forming what can only be sturdy rock climbing base to get into the castle.

At this moment I wonder if I should go back to get dad. Probably not yet. I want to call dibs on any of the castle rooms available for the night, which would come soon and it isn't a very good idea to sleep outside again. But then again, what if the castle is haunted? After all it did disappear, and what if the people in there all died, and once I go in, I'll find skeletons in armor, or swords and shields, then at night they all come alive again to relive that day? Maybe I should really go get dad…


	9. Chapter 9 - Verdict

Nope. I decided not to get dad. This is my time, to make a discovery, to get an adventure that could possibly change my perspective of life. But mostly because it's too much hassle to go get him and double back again. Besides, I've never been in a castle before, and dad might actually ruin it for me with all his stone wall analysis, and architectural insights.

I climbed slowly, given I am not so good with any form of climbing, and there is a huge bag on my back that will supply me with everything I need if I get castled-in. eventually after two or three slips, I made my way to the top of the stone crumble, and hopped onto the walkway that surrounded the castle. Years of playing video games taught me that this is probably where sentry soldiers patrol for security, and I would probably not find anything.

So far so good. No stray armor or spears or swords or shields lying around. Just vines and moss and possibly dead fauna that lined the stone walk way. Again, armed with my expertise of castles from video games, I headed for the front of the castle which I came from to find an entry. The sun seem to be bright, and my way was lit. I was able to look at the structure, and feel like I'm actually in a video game. At this point it seemed to me that even though the place seemed abandoned, and I decided not to entertain the thought of ghosts and spirits, it wouldn't be the worst idea to be armed in some way. Just in case.

I headed further to where it seemed like a sentry post in the middle of the wall, and sure enough, there was an old table, a rack for bows and arrows, and bingo, an axe. Not the axe we know, but an actual weapon axe like the one dwarves carry in fairytales. It was long enough for me to carry but not too long that it towers over me. Slightly heavy, but it can't be bad if I needed to use it. Wouldn't want to be hitting something bad with the equivalent of a pool noodle.

I headed down the stairs into what looked like the inner compound after the big outer wall, and headed for the gate. My initial thought was to open it so I can exit easily, then I realize castles were built with the purpose of security and defense, which would defeat the purpose if the gate can be opened by a single person. I tried to undo some smaller mechanism, but the years of age and possibly rust has rendered my efforts useless.

I decided to check out the castle. The inner door is more intricate, something that we have come to recognize in movies, slightly easier to push open, but still heavy that my entire weight had to be put against it to make it open just enough for me to squeeze through. Or is it because I was heavy enough to open the door. That's not a good thing.

The air in the castle was immediately different. It was grand, mystical, and eerily quiet. Ahead was a long marbled floor towards a tall grand staircase. It was as if I had really walked into a fairytale. The ceiling was beyond high with mosaic portraits and tapestry of people and painting-worthy pictures, with a grand chandelier hanging in the middle that was built for holding candles. I slowly walked in awe as I turned to soak it all in. it is a nice place to live in, I have to admit.

The first step on the stone stairs echoed, I would presume the ridiculous shoes of princesses would echo much louder back when this place was still functional. I headed up and immediately saw the many different passage ways leading to various parts of the castle. I headed forward to the main chamber after the hall, to a bigger hall with paintings of people in gold frames and way much bigger than what we have in stupid museums. The glass windows were letting in the light, some shattered and cracked, but at least I could see where I'm going.

This would take days to explore, and right now I do look ridiculous holding an ancient axe with a backpack in a castle. I headed further in after taking a turn to find myself in the throne room. I know it is the place where king and queen sits, because of the unmistakable thrones up another staircase.

Fantastic.

I walked faster and up the stairs, taking care not to slip on the marble stone stairs that seem to be preserved very nicely. Does germany don't get acid rains? Once at the top, I got to take a closer look at the king's throne. It was definitely old with age, but undeniable, it was made of gold, at least something that looked shiny before. Carved intricately, the high chair had an aura on it so I put down my backpack and axe, and took a step forward. I felt the armrests, the back, the seat. They were cold, and hard. I wonder how the king can sit here all day without his butt hurting. But it wouldn't hurt, to just try.

I took a deep breath, and turned, to sit down on the throne. I was hoping to feel a wave of authority, and a sense of royalty. But no, in this empty abandoned grand hall, it is just another chair. A cold hard chair. And oddly uncomfortable, seeing how if this place was filled with people back then, everyone would be looking up at whoever is in here. Now that, is something I don't want.

I got up, seeing how I would probably not get an epiphany or powers from sitting, and it was getting boring. Now games and movies have taught me that, either left or right, are passages that lead to private chambers. I looked left, it was dark. Right, there's some light. Let's go right. I picked up my bag and axe, and headed towards the right.

It led me to a courtyard. There was an abandoned fountain in the middle, with still soil for what seemed to be bushes when it still grew. Man this place has a lot of death. I walked down to the courtyard and headed for the door up ahead. Pushing it open after much effort, I found another section of the castle. I opened a random door, some room with big chairs and couches. Another door, same thing. Then another, and another, until I reached one and I almost fainted.

My first instinct is that dad should never be allowed in here. Because if he is, he would never leave. The library was as tall as the main hall, with shelves upon shelves of books, all looking ancient with age. I walked to the nearest shelf and poked at one of the spines of the leather bound books. It felt soft, like a bookstore's. Gently I tugged at it, and pulled it out. As slowly and as carefully as I can, like peeling open a sheet mask that has all the edges stuck together. They were all handwritten, seeing how press wasn't invented when brothers grimm were alive. And while I'm sure it's a language I don't understand, even if I do, the cursive handwriting is enough to make me not understand anything. So let me put this back.

I exited the library and went back to the main corridor I came. I leaned the axe against the wall for a moment to take a sip of water. It tasted different. Very refreshing. I guess natural water is naturally different, because humans cannot stop to appreciate things, we must add things, or remove things, even for something as essential as water.

I pressed on, determined to find at least some sleeping chamber of sorts so I don't have to camp outside tonight. I doubled back the corridor and headed back to the courtyard with the fountain. I tried a different door, and found another set of rooms with chairs or just empty space. I looked outside, hoping to find some bearings of sort, then it dawned on me that, people in castles don't sleep on the ground floor. They sleep in towers. At least that's where they keep princesses. Time to find stairs.

There's one, straight ahead, and it seem to spiral, which is a good thing I presume. I headed up, and up higher, until I reach a doorway with another corridor. I looked out the openings to catch a glimpse of the entire kingdom and front of the castle. It looked nice, more than nice. It was amazing, something I rarely let myself say. I followed the walkway higher to the end, where it joined the main castle building. There I saw a main hall, with multiple corridors and stairs leading up to where I am, and further up, were more stairs. I headed up a random one. It lead me up further, and I could tell I'm getting tired of all the climbing as my legs were screaming torture. I stopped at the top, for a moment before looking left and right. There is a very beautiful door. It should be something. I staggered over and pushed at it. The still air resisted, but nevertheless, it was indeed what I'm looking for.

This could pass as a hotel deluxe grand suite. I know it's a sleeping chamber, but it has its own living room, study and fire place, with the huge bed to the side. This is even bigger than my own apartment. At least for now, it'll be my apartment. I call dibs. The verdict is still out.

I put down the bag and axe and headed over to the big armchair. Given that it's old, I gently, even though I really don't want to, sit down. It is sturdy, and surprisingly, it didn't feel old. I walked to the bed and pressed. It was hard, but that's actually perfect for me. So I let myself fall onto it.

Oh gosh…. If there is a god out there, I would believe. I flipped to my back. This is the best bed ever. If I can, I'll take this back. In fact, I call dibs. I want to take this back. Even though it's old and ancient and probably…

If it's old and ancient, why hasn't it aged a bit? I sat back up and turned to see. There is not even a small tear, or even yellowing of the sheets. I don't get it. I looked at the room, everything seemed to be preserved pristinely. Everything until now, has been in great condition, despite the centuries that has passed.

Slightly alarmed, I decided to vacate the room for now. I picked up my bag and my axe, and somehow took one last look at the room and caught sight of a portrait hanging above the fireplace. It was of a man, very young, and very familiar. Probably a prince's.

I exited the room and headed back down. I decided it was time, to look for my dad. I took out my phone, half expecting it to have a service, and of course not. But at least it still told time, and apparently, it was two hours after noon.

Which, does not make sense. It took me at least a good hour on foot to get to the castle with the shopping cart skateboard, perhaps a good few hours to explore this place. Why would it be only two hours? Does this place mess with time?

I couldn't help but feel a chill, as the whole haunted castle concept revisited my head. I retraced my steps quickly and focused on getting out. I gripped the axe tightly as my footsteps turned into a brisk walk as I made my way down all the corridors and towards the throne room. From there I retraced again, and again until I was out. The sun was still up. Something is not right. I went back up the sentry post and along the walkway till I reach the stone crumble. There I stepped outside and immediately, the sky went orange. It was sunset. I need to find dad.

I sat down on the rocks and slowly push my way down. The axe was not helping, seeing how if I want to keep it, it is hindering my ability to grasp for my stability. And sure enough, one slip, and the axe fell. Well, better this way I'll just pick it up when I get down. Except I couldn't. I heard a loud snap and then a thump. Right at the bottom of the rocks, the axe snapped in two. I pushed faster as I get down, slipping and sliding once or twice until I reached the bottom. I picked up the handle of the axe, only to see the wood had already decayed and is unable to support the weight of the rusted metal.

I need dad. I made my way back away from the grass to where the cart is, and I mounted it. With a shove, I pushed and stood on it as the wheels rumbled along the dirt road.

"DAD!" I shouted as loud as I can. I pushed and shoved, I pushed before I shouted again. No answer. I followed the road as long as I could, seeing how I made two distinct marks on the ground with my earlier skating attempt. "DAD!"

I shouted as I passed the streets, the sun was setting fast. I paused for a moment before I shouted again. I could hear an echo, and I held my breath. Then very faintly, I heard a very soft "ex". I pushed forward again.

"DAD WHERE ARE YOU!" I shouted.

"lex…. Here…" I followed the echo, which was hard, but gave me a general direction. Then in the semi darkness, I saw my dad's bag.

"DAD!" I screamed.

"alex what is it! Where have you been!" he burst out from another street.

"dad you won't believe it. I was at the castle. You won't believe this." I said as I grabbed his arm.

"why what what happen!?" he looked like he is ready to freak out as he looked at me up and down. "are you hurt?! Is there something?"

"yes, it's big, but you have to come." I said as I went to take his bag to put in the cart. "dad forget this village, you have to come to the castle."

"why what's going on!" he pulled at my hand, and the papers he was looking at fell to the floor. And I caught sight of the crystal ball one.

"dad what did you say, about the kingdom, and that crystal ball thing?" I stopped to catch my breath as he scrambled to pick up the papers.

"legend says that it is a magical orb that is said to be a drop of the sun itself, that manifested in magic powers to heal, protect, and even reverse time." he said.

"time." I panted, suddenly feeling my mouth is completely dry. I went to my bag to take a swig of the refreshing water. "it controls time."

"in a way yes." he said.

"then yes, I don't know about the orb or magic, but time, does stop, at the castle." I panted as I capped the bottle. "dad you have to come, you will know what I'm talking about the moment we get there."

"alex you have been all the way to the castle? Is that why you are gone for so long?" he asked, concerned.

"yes I've been inside, and time didn't move while I was in there. Until I came outside and the sky went dark. Dad we have to go to the castle now." I pulled at his arm and pulled out a torch to switch it on.

I looked around for another wheel cart. There was a slightly smaller one and I pushed it over, dumping my bag on it.

"come dad." I say as I gave mine a shove and rode on it like a scooter. "dad come!"

"alright alright." he put his things back in his bag and followed. I pushed far ahead and we both rumbled on the slowly disappearing light. This time I didn't stop or slow, I kept pushing until I reached the castle. I put the cart away, and I pulled at dad, who had turned on his own light. We made our way across the small grass patch and up to where I remember coming by for the stone crumble.

"dad we're climbing. Follow me." I said as I tucked my torch under my shoulder strap and climbed higher.

"alex slow down!" he cried as he climbed behind me. In my eagerness I slipped more times than before, but I knew the darkness is only momentarily. I reached the top and stood for a moment, helping to light my dad's way up. He then caught his breath next to me as he looked down and out ahead.

"dad you ready?" I asked.

"right." he looked forward. I took a step onto the walkway.


	10. Chapter 10 - Pan

As I suspected, the nightfall is of no effect to the castle. One moment I was in the dark, the next I was in the bright sunlight of the afternoon. I turned around to see my dad's horror-struck face.

"dad." I said. He didn't respond. I shook his arm. "dad!"

"alex…" he only managed. At least he knows my name.

"dad what did I tell you. Time stops here!" I said.

"but how?!" he cried.

"I don't know!" I cried back. "dad come."

I pulled him towards the sentry post, to make our way into the castle. The axe was not there, seeing how I've removed it and condemned it to death. Then I pulled him towards the main door, it was left slightly ajar as I left it.

"Dad come inside." I said as I pulled him into the castle. There he slowed and I almost yanked my arm off.

"this is…" he sank to the floor.

"Dad…" I uttered as I turned around. He was looking up at the ceiling, and I could see tears forming.

"this is… nothing like I've ever encountered…" he said, with much difficulty, and tears appeared to be in bigger drops now.

I wasn't as heartless as I thought I was, because, perhaps in the rare occasions, like what my dad is experiencing right now. Someone is genuinely passionate about his or her work, and is only able to concoct a reaction like this. If only I had a passion that makes me feel alive and awed and completely mind-blown to find. Not that stopping time, is not mind-blowing enough.

"dad." I say as I sat down next to him and put down my bag. He lowered his head to look at me. "this is a lot to take in. and we need a plan, for this place. What are we going to do, and how are we getting back to tell people about this place. We haven't got much supplies."

He began to look around, as though reality setting in. I pulled out my next packed food, and began to eat my dinner. Dad slowly regain his senses and sat down with me.

"I know this means a lot to you. And right now, I don't see what else I can do, except to be your devil's advocate, given this place doesn't move with time. We need a plan, to find out what's going on here, and how long we are staying, and how we are getting back." I say through a bite of cold bread.

"thank you alex." he said as he put a hand on my shoulder. "I know you haven't been happy for a while, maybe, you might find what you are looking for here."

I nodded as I continued to eat. Dad sat in silence, as he looked at the great hall. The only sounds were of me eating, and drinking. Not even the slightest wind, or breath from my dad. He seemed to be confused, but at the same time his mind is racing.

"yes we need a plan." he said, and pulled out a notebook. "so here's our journey so far. My theory is that, we passed through the log, is an entry to another space or dimension. And then within the different space or dimension, there is here another time dimension that is separate from the space."

"so, some kind of space time continuum?" I asked. "although I have no idea what that is."

"either way, right now, our plan is to make sure that we keep track of time, our own time." he said and he pulled out his phone and started a timer. "this gives us a window of 12 hours, to which we must leave this time loop, to go outside to check what time and day it is in our world."

"agreed." I said, rolling up the wrapper.

"now we have enough food and there's water outside, for a five day camping trip. We've used up two days, so that leaves us three more days." he continued. "but, we need to also need to figure a way out of the space dimension we came. So it leaves us two days here in the castle to find out all we can."

"now you're talking sense dad." I said.

"so let's split the work." he said. "I'll stay in the castle, to research. Alex you go back outside tomorrow, and look around for clues on the perimeter of the kingdom."

"why am I doing the hard work?" I protested.

"do you want to help me find out what happened here?"

"no." I shook my head. "there's a library you can start. It's full of books I don't understand."

"so there you have it." dad concluded as he drew a time table on his notebook. Each time we are done, we'll mark our progress and keep track here."

"right." I said and he stood up. "let's set up base camp somewhere in the castle."

"library?" I asked.

"good place. Take me there." he said enthusiastically. I pulled up my bag and led him through my first route, not without having to pull him along in the throne room and the room with the big tapestry portraits. It took me a while but we did manage to find the library. And because the time doesn't change around here, it is getting very confusing.

As I suspected, dad began to prance around the library, looking at books and telling me things about this place in hieroglyphs and alien speech. As much as I want to, suddenly I feel safer sleeping here in the library than in the room I called dibs. But it wouldn't hurt, if we can get some things from the rooms to make our time here more comfortable.

"dad come with me." I said as I pulled him towards the towers. His incessant chatter about the stone steps and design and cracks and smudges was suddenly very welcoming, given my previous trip here was on the brink of mental breakdown. We made our way up to the chamber and I showed him the room I found. As he began his analysis of the room, I gathered the covers and pillows and whatever I could hold onto to bring downstairs.

"this man." he looked at the painting.

"a prince?" I asked.

"yes, but not the prince we were looking for. Someone perhaps a generation before, but the resemblance is there." he said as he took out the piece of paper to compare.

"okay dad, you can admire him tomorrow." I say. "we need to get rest and right now the sun out there is not helping."

"yes you are very right. Let me take some oh look at the intricacy of the carvings!"

Of a bed pan.

It's like pulling a kid from a toy store.

Eventually I did get him back to the library and we drew the heavy drapes together to block out the sun. I let dad's phone timer do the alarm. I would kill for a shower now. But seeing how water is outside, in frigid temperatures, the wipes I brought will have to do for now.

"night dad." I say as I pulled my sleeping bag up and the fluffy pillow under my head.

"too bad I can't call your mother tonight." he said as he crawled into his own bag.

"will she worry?" I asked, my eyes closing.

"probably, but she knows I can get caught up with work." I hear him say. So he does know his problem. I was always under the impression that he didn't.


	11. Chapter 11 - Accept

I think at some point, I have to accept that my life is full of disappointments is because my left brain is not right. And my right brain has nothing left. As a result my brain spends time collecting useless data like how close the idiot on the subway is holding his bag to my face, or the hypothetical speed at which the cellphone zombie in front of me is travelling at. They say you are what you eat, so you are what you think. I think negatively, so my life is full of negatively charged ions. Surprisingly I haven't been able to attract the positive charge ions because physics says so.

I should find a way to set up the hammock in the library. Because after last night, I think that's the way to sleep. See, my brain only sees the hard floor that seem to have no dust despite the centuries.

The alarm has blared, and it is now twelve hours later. Dad jolted up, and I pushed away the sleeping bag and sat up.

"come alex." he said in an overt enthusiasm that I do not welcome in the morning. I got up behind him as he pulled on his jacket and I followed him.

The sun, is obviously still out, having not set in the last few centuries in this place. We have no trouble walking without torches as we headed further outside, up the same route and to the rocky mound. We stepped out, and the world went dark. Dad took out his notebook and began to make notes. I on the other hand, decided to hop back in, and out and in, playing with the invisible light switch.

"now alex." he closed his book as he stepped back into the light. "time for breakfast, and we have work to do."

"is there some way I can shower?" I stuck my foot out the barrier and felt the cold.

"well I suppose, they have baths…" he began to wonder as he looked at the castle.

"Dad." I just said simply and stared. "dad."

He looked at me, and he knew that look. Since young I have mastered the art of persuasion, by persuasion I meant stare until he caves. Once I made him buy me a giant bear plush at the airport. When we are going on a trip.

"oh alright." he sighed as we doubled back to the castle. He began to look at the interior more closely, and mumbled to himself. Then he turned a corner, and looked, mumbled some more, then turned again. Then he doubled back as he pointed, as though calculating something in his own anthropological math. "ah ha!"

He exclaimed as he then walked another corridor, turned and found stairs leading downstairs. Then he walked down and pushed opened the door at the bottom. Then we headed straight, passing by rows of pillars made of stone, and down to another door.

Dad then pushed open it, and I smelt water. I was instantaneously woken up by the prospect of a shower. And what greeted my eyes, was another miracle by itself.

The castle bath area was a big circular pool, that seem to feed water from one wall, and drain on the other side. And the water in it, smelt familiar.

"dad the water… is it from the stream outside?" I asked as I walked forward to feel the water. It was slightly cold, but still clear. "yep it is. And it is cold as hell."

"well." dad looked around, and began to examine the wall that the water fed from.

"also I don't get it, how is it that they have a running river here, where everything else in the castle is like, dead, or just stopped moving?" I say as I looked around. Dad was ignoring my profound statement, with the "uh huh", as he felt the wall.

With another "ah ha", he found a sliding panel and moved what looked like a door to the side, and peeked in.

"this is where they would heat the water. Alex look! This is ingenious!" he exclaimed. I followed him into the smaller chamber, as dark as it is, but I could make out what looked like tall well in the middle of the water channel. "this must be the first water heater! See you would put wood in there, and create a fire that will heat the stone around it, so that it will heat up the water that gets feed into the main bath. And look, there's the chimney vent for the smoke!"

He pointed up. Then he took out his notebook and began to take notes.

"that's great. I'll go find wood, and you can make fire again." I say as I turn to leave.

"alex! Breakfast." he said as he continued writing in his book as he followed me. I then tried my best to find my way back to the library, where our bags are, not without making a wrong turn once or twice. Eventually I sat down, on my comfy sleeping bag and opened a new sandwich. I realized I packed snacks and candy, they should come in handy later. Dad was rummaging in his bag as he took his food. "this is odd."

He pulled out a piece of paper.

"thank you for the lovely gift, but I think you should bring this along, might be of some help." he said as he read. "it's mrs fischbach's handwriting, but, I don't see what else is there."

"it's a gift that you gave her." I said through the bread. "so I don't know, she gave you back the taxidermy snake because it might help on this trip? I don't get it."

"well, I don't either, but at the same time, there's no snake in here." dad said as he began pulling things out of his bag till there was nothing left. No sign of the snake.

"maybe she decided she can't part with it and forgot the note." I say as I took a swig of the water that was oh so refreshing. "or maybe, the snake came to life in the night and slithered away."

"alex stop it." dad snapped as he put his bag aside and began to eat. "now maybe, you don't need to heat the water, because once the sun outside is out, the water will be heated sufficiently before it passes into the bath. Then you can have a change of clothes, and get started outside."

"fine." I say as I finished the last bite.

"now, once outside, set your alarm to ring so you can be back at noon for your lunch. Take a perimeter walk, make sure you can see the castle at each point so you don't step the wrong way out, and bring your water with you, stay hydrated-"

"dad." I held up my hands. "I'm going to forget these, until I have my shower."

I took some clothes and a tiny microfibre towel I had stowed away. I have small biodegradable soaps and toiletries, and I can't wait to get out of these clothes. I walked outside as dad began to review his notes and eat his breakfast. I decided to make some markings of the route to the bathroom in case I get lost. By markings I meant rearranging the existing furniture or items just so I know I came this way. This is like going to a fancy hotel, only bigger and older and quieter because there's nobody. The best kind of hotel. And best of all, no need to pay a single cent. The only downside is there's no food, let alone room service.

I closed the door behind me as I tested the water. Yes it's cold, but it's like swimming, you get into the pool and scream bloody ice murder, then you wade around for a while and it's fine. So I began to undress. Even though I know full well that I'm the only one around here, it still feels odd to be naked in a place this big.

My toe froze immediately upon contact with the water, I thought it was going to fall off. But just like swimming, I braced the water and began wading around the giant pool, echoing the splashes and stood under the skylight, I began to get warmer until I could submerge myself. I sat in the middle, feeling the comfort of getting clean and looking up at the sunlight. My mind was blank, which is surprising because it is usually never empty given there is plenty to complain about in life.

I waded over to get my toiletries and began to wash myself. I'm glad to be rid of the grease that was building up on my face. Fat people seem to be more greasy, so it would seem. I once cleaned, I watch the biodegradable foam float towards the other exit of the pool, and into the wall, and I was reminded of the eccentricity of this place.

This is by far, the only place that had some activity, or movement. But why, and how? How is it that the entire castle, is filled with inactivity, but some parts, like the bathroom is not stuck in time. I looked around the bathroom, and then I began to see things I didn't notice before. The sides of the pool was lined with a bit of moss, and that the middle of the pool where the sunlight comes in, there were slight stains. Which means, this place is not affected by the time freeze, and technically left to the elements.

Maybe the answer isn't outside of the castle, but inside. I leaped up and waded to get my towel and dried myself. I put on the fresh clothes and gathered my things as I went outside, aware that the place is now slightly colder thanks to my bath. I was hurrying back to the library, when I realized the route will pass the throne room.

I decided to go in, and I headed for the throne again. This time, I looked closely at the throne. The carvings on the stone had not faded, which is reasonable, because none of the items in the room were exposed to the elements. But what about the areas where the light could come in, like the carpet on the floor, or the curtains. There was no sign that the color had faded, or damage from sun exposure. So does this mean, whatever that is above ground, is subjected to the time freeze, but underground is not?

I walked back to my dad, who has started taking books out of the shelves.

"Dad," I began as I set my things down. "I think, we don't have to go outside to get our bearings."

I then began to explain my theory, and he sat, nodding thoughtfully.

"There's a way to test it." I say as I took out my phone. The time froze as yesterday evening the moment we entered the castle vicinity. I then walked back out to head for the basement where the bathroom was, and immediately, the time updated.

"good find alex." my dad slapped my shoulder. "now we have to conserve our power, so switch off your phone. I've did mine."

"don't you have a solar charger?" I asked, frowning.

"again with the dependence on technology." he shook his head.

"right now I believe technology is the one saving us dad." I say as I wave the phone with the time and date update in his face.

"fine." he said as he began to walk back out.

"so dad I think, the answer lies in the castle, and not out there." I say. "if we can find out what happened, we might be able to restore it, and bring this place back. That way we would end the time freeze and possibly the space out there."

"I don't know, alex, I think we should still check outside." he said as we walked back out. "take a walk, I'll continue to research here, and come back in three or four hours. We'll see what we can find."

"fine." I say as we headed back to the library. I took my bottle, and a smaller bag to stow away some snacks, a power bank, notebook and pen, as well as a first aid kit. "right dad I'm off."

"come back in four hours." he said as he carried a tower of books to the nearest table.

"yes dad." I say as I headed outside. I'm not a big fan of walking, and my head is cracking, thinking of the amount of walking I have to do today. The wheel cart seemed like a good idea but it does take a bit of effort to move. I sighed as I walked out the castle door and back the walkway to the stream.

As soon as I stepped outside, a cool breeze blew, and it was morning, the morning I knew. I made my way down the stones and found our wheel carts there. I took the smaller one, with four wheels. I wondered if I could make a hole in the middle, so I can put my legs through it, and sit down in it to just wheel around like a walking wheelchair.

Lazy, I know. But I can't help but think conservation of energy is utmost importance now, and my laziness and obsession with convenience is now a good motivation to find the best transportation for myself.

The axe I brought out yesterday was still there. I held on to the blunt edge and over turned the cart. I decided to remove two planks from the cart so I can sit in it and put my legs through. It was harder than I thought, but given the wood condition, after half an hour, I made it work. I split the wood I took in half so as to lengthen the plank I'll be sitting on. And I put my legs through I began to walk. It was difficult to steer, but that'll do for now. I sat down and gripped the front of the cart, and start to roll.

I decided to look at the place where we came from first. The hollowed trunk, and the horrible hill we slide down from. It took me a while to get there, but once out of the city gates, I was able to look up the slope.

Which does not make any sense.

Why would there be a slope, in front of the city gates? Don't people have to travel towards the city, and it would make common sense to build the gates somewhere flat where people and transportation, however primitive, can come and go? I decided to sit on my cart, and take a tour around the slope, see where it levels. I checked my phone, it was a good hour since I left.

I began to wade my way in the cart as I rocked along on the grass, around the city perimeter. There were trees, but slopes still, yet no sign, of flat ground. It was as though the entire place sank a good five stories down into the ground. Or is it people really do have to come down this way and climb back up. Which still doesn't make sense. What if it rained? Does it mean this place floods? What are we in a swamp?

A swamp…

What if this place IS a swamp before? That would account for the frog theory that this place rears frogs for its medicinal purposes. And that would be sick.

I continued on, finding no sign of a way up, but another gate to the city. I entered it, and passed by another section of the town and houses. Now that the sun is out, and I'm more alert and awake, I began to look closely at the houses. They are straight out of the fairytale books, and nothing extraordinary. I picked up a hammer and rusted pitchfork along the way. Further in I found a small wagon, which would make a better skating transport. I tied it to the cart with some rope I found as I continued exploring.

I decided to head back. Not because I'm hungry, but because I think I can't find a single thing that resembled any clue that would help us. It seemed like it was legitimately abandoned by people, a conscious effort to do so. Which means whatever caused this mass exodus, had to come from the castle.


	12. Chapter 12 - Tower

I decided to make my way back to the castle, after all, dad did tell me to come back in three to four hours. I rolled my cart like a baby learning to walk back as the sun began blazing. I wondered if I have a cap in my bag.

The air was crisp and the quietness was welcoming. Strangely eerie but, still, welcoming. I suddenly wished I had someone to tell this to. I can tell my friends, but I doubt they will believe me. I could tell a boyfriend if I have one, and he'll be forced to believe me.

I often wonder if I really have a boyfriend, hypothetically, what would it be like. Would I be waking up to breakfasts, or texts? Certainly would be easier to have someone to go to the movies with or go overseas, and a perfect excuse to bail on dad for phantom searches. But what would he make me do? Watch a game, hang out at bars with his buddies? I don't know. Would I really have someone to sit across the table and not be judged at restaurants? What would we talk about? Are we talking about games and movies or books we like? Or who is our favorite super heroes? Do we talk about goals and what makes us happy? And if we don't have the same interests then what?

Suddenly I feel, the uncertainty is real, and the struggles are indeed serious if we disagree on many things. Being alone seemed to be the ideal scenario, just like now. I can decide which route I take, I don't have to listen to him making the wrong decision and we wind up at the front again. I mean, yes, it's pretty funny since if we are that different we wouldn't be going out anymore. But are we able to make that call early or at the right time, because we are afraid to be alone?

I also don't see how I can meet guys. I work in an office, a very mundane one, and the guys I meet there or got to know from work, are jerks. I certainly don't go to bars, or clubs, and most of the time I'm outside I have earphones in my ears to shut out the world. And apparently now on my breaks from life I come to mystical forests and kingdoms where life vanish. So my odds are amazing.

The year I turned thirty, is this year. And the months leading up to the day has been more ups and downs than a stock market. Eventually I have come to terms, that maybe girls like me are better off alone, and there's nothing wrong with it. Would I want to give up all that I've worked for, not that it is any impressive, but still, for a guy who couldn't appreciate honesty, realistic and loyal down to earth-ness? No.

This is the internal struggle I have, wanting to be myself, which is now a version with strength and independence, and also wanting what others have. Some days I come to terms with being single, yet some days after cracking a few jokes about having a future partner, I find myself wondering, is this how it feels like to be attached? It's not that bad.

Alright moving on.

I made my way back to the castle, and I left the wagon and cart down on the bottom of the stone hill. I then climbed up to step into what looks like the same sun and made my way back to the main door and then the library. I remember leaving it looking like a library, and now I've returned, to a library that seemed to have survived an earthquake.

"dad." I called out. "seriously I leave you for two hours you've tore down all the shelves to get the books?"

"alex!" I hear his voice, but I have no idea which direction it is because it began to echo. "this place, is amazing, I'm getting so much information! Do you know they have a republican political system here? Back in the ages! We all thought kingdoms are usually a monarchy but perhaps not! This changes a lot of what we understood of the ancient world!"

"where are you?" I looked around, and taking care to step on the only places where there aren't open books.

"oh I'm here!"

"I don't know where here is I'm just going to eat lunch." I hopped my way back to the sleeping bags. This might be a good time to set up my hammock since he has made a complete mess of the floor. "dad, initial reports aren't great."

So I told him what I found, the sunken city, the slopes perimeter, and the abandonment.

"well, we'll find clues soon." he said. "why don't you take a rest and help me with this library?"

"no." I said quickly and standing up with the sandwich in my mouth. "I'm checking out the castle. I don't understand german, or whatever this language is so happy reading. Remember to eat too. Bye."

I walked outside the library, leaving the door wide open. The quiet castle seem to echo my footsteps, and yet above that, I thought I heard a faint ribbit. I chewed on the bread as I made my way to other corridors so I can take a look at the huge castle. I believe the good things and living quarters are where I can find real dirt of what happened so I kept heading deeper.

Wasn't there a saying that princesses were kept in the highest room of the tallest tower? That's laughable. That would be the hottest and coldest room ever. I began wandering until I reached the same area of where I found the bedroom. I decided to explore the lower floor, just to see what I would find. I pushed open an ornate door, the only one in the entire corridor.

I believe the term was "cabinet", as dad had lectured many times that cabinet members were derived from the private room for meetings for important people. Just as I suspected the conditions were pristine, with chairs, tables and fireplace. I looked around and start making my way around the corners. There were navigational charts, contraptions I don't understand, books written in alien languages, and frogs. Lots and lots of figurines and busts of frogs. I looked up and there was a chandelier, with candles.

I approached the fireplace, and studied the individual busts on the mantelpiece. There were frogs, and then a human, who looked like the portrait in the bedroom. I reached out to take it, perhaps dad might find useful to have a face to look for in the archives.

"ssss"

There's a sound I have not heard in the castle, or anytime in my life. I looked up at the mantlepiece but I don't see anything. I looked at the bust and there was nothing. But it sounded incredibly dangerous so I backed up. I looked at the mantlepiece again, and this time the far edge of the wallpaper began to move.

Holy shit. It's a snake.

It turned its head towards me and in my head I just went "shit, shit, shit". I backed and backed, giving the snake more space and to make sure I am out of it's attacking range. I glanced at the door and contemplated dashing for it. I looked back at the snake, who is now detaching itself from the wall with its head pointed straight at me.

Can snakes jump or dart? Because if they can I'm screwed. I slowly inched my way to the door, it's head following me. Shit.

I could see its forked tongue, slithering out and in. I don't know why snakes do that, to feel some things or what I don't care. I care about leaving this room with it inside. I see its head retract and I knew it must be to attack. Nobody punches without pulling their fists back, and this is it.

"you stay there." I said, as though it would help. "I'm not here to kill you, I just found this place, and it'll be nice if you stay where you are, and I'm leaving."

I'm talking to a snake now.

Then its head appeared bigger as it darted off the mantlepiece. I screamed and jumped to the side, thankfully it was the side with the door. I turned back to see a frog leap up onto the table behind me. Oh it wants food! Now's my chance.

I ran towards the door and closed it behind me. Shit there are snakes here!

I realized I was still holding the bust, so I used the base to make an X on the door. Fruitless, seeing how the doors are made of the finest quality. I need to tell dad.

I ran down the stairs and across the corridors, and straight for the opened door.

"dad! Dad! This is bad!" I shouted. I looked around the heaps of opened books and there was no sign of dad. "DAD!"

"what?" I hear from behind me. He had a finger in his ear and his hair looked wet.

"you went for a bath?" I asked.

"why yes, after lunch, a good soak to clear my mind and digest these marvelous finds!" he said. "what happened?"

"dad, there's a snake in the castle. And a frog." I said hurriedly. Then pause. There's a snake and frog in the castle. That sounds weird.

"so there are still living creatures in this place." he said. "what did the snake look like?"

"uh. It's black, and it has wavy red patterns on the two sides." I said. "red next to black, friend of jack."

"that's for coral snakes alex." dad said as we head for the library. I closed the door behind him. He took out his phone and showed me a picture of a snake with red and black.

"yes that's the one!" I screamed. "wait."

It was the photo of the taxidermy snake he brought.

"so they do have orlov's vipers here, this is new information." he said as he began taking notes.

"dad this is a poisonous snake." I looked at him intently.

"orlov's viper is a venomous snake, there's a difference. It injects its venom when it bites others. Poisonous snakes are dangerous when they are eaten by others." he corrected me like I was in school.

"what difference does it make! Bottom line is it can kill us!" I shot back.

"where is it now?" he asked calmly.

"I closed the door when it tried to eat a frog in the cabinet room." I said and pointed outside.

"well it must have gotten in from outside." dad said, completely not helping.

"Can we please get back to what are we going to do about the snake?" I gestured to the door, like im ushering some invisible entity.

"Snakes are shy creatures Alex, as long as we don't provoke them, they won't attack." He said as though I just asked him about plush toys. Plush toys won't attack. Sure.

Then I remembered the pitch fork just outside. And the axe. Already thinking ahead for the future. Good for me. I didn't wait for him and I headed back out, determined to arm myself.

I opened the door gingerly and looked outside, scanning for red and black. I am no jack so this is no friend of mine. Then I slide past the door and closed it, before brisk walking out. I suddenly find myself becoming paranoid, as though some ghost is chasing me. I hurried out of the corridors, and the walk way, before stepping out to the afternoon sun and rolling down to the base where the carts are. I took a swig of water, before refilling my bottle, and grabbing the pitchfork, axe, and making my way up, before coming down to get the small wagon. I don't know but I'm just taking it for now. Then I put the pitchfork in the wagon and with the axe in my hand I began to walk. Somehow I should find the armory of this castle. Surely there might be more shiny and useful weapons.

As I made my way back to the library, I realized I hadn't shown dad the bust. But surely he had already saw and is on his to do list to find out who this person is. I'm looking around for the stupid snake. Hopefully it has eaten the frog, and is sleeping somewhere. I can't put my finger on it but I can sure feel something is very off. I shrugged it off and headed back inside, near my dad. I never thought he would represent safety in my life, seeing how he's always getting lost, and bumbling around but today proved me wrong.

As soon as I entered the library I took out my solar charger and began to charge my phone as well as my dad's, which he had conveniently left on the table. The screen popped up to be that taxidermy snake he brought.

"dad." I began, as he was busy scribbling notes that looked more like lines than actual english words. The man writes worse than doctors.

"yes?" he isn't looking up.

"dad can we just take a moment." I began and I pulled a chair to sit down, feeling myself burning I unzipped my jacket. "and take this all in."

"what are you talking about?" he stopped and looked up.

"dad don't you just find this all very unexplainable?" I asked. "this place, is frozen in time. We followed a frog, to find a portal that led us here. Given all the magic involved this is some mind-blowing shit."

"language!" he snapped. "and I'm sure we can find some explanation, and if not, scientists will."

"dad didn't you say, you found a note from mrs. Fischbach?" I asked.

"yes."

"it's about the snake you brought and she wants you to bring it along which is why she packed it in your bag but now it's gone?" I asked.

"it's an orlov's viper." he corrected. As though that makes a difference. It's a reptile, it crawls on the floor with no arms or legs, and has a tongue it keeps flicking like it's a middle finger, it's a snake.

"do you think, given the impossibility of this place and this world we cannot explain, that the snake I saw earlier, is the one from your bag?" I asked.

"alex it's a taxidermy snake. It means all its organs have been removed and stuffed." he rolled his eyes. Didn't know dad was capable of that. "you saw a live snake trying to eat a frog, it's hungry."

"and could that frog, be the same frog that brought us here?" I finished. Then he stopped. "why else, would they be in the cabinet room? Why can't they be near water, or grass, but in, a human room."

This time, one of the rarest of times, I've rendered my dad speechless.

"how did mrs fischbach know to get us to bring the snake…?" I asked. "who exactly is she?"

"she is a herpetologist, friend of your mum's." he said.

"and how long have they known each other?" I asked.

"not long, just, perhaps the last photo exhibit your mum participated in." he said, slightly sheepish sounding. "also why do you have an axe?"

"so I can chop the snake if it wants to attack." I say. "that's not the point. I cannot help but feel, everything, seem to be happening for a reason."

"everything does happen for a reason alex." he said, turning back to his books. "just like how, this place was last inhabited by the third king of the Engelhardt family, and I believe, that bust, is the prince that was supposed to marry the duchess. It all is true."

I think I may have lost my dad.

"dad I'm going back to explore the castle." I say as I stood up.

"oh what about the snake?" he asked. Out of genuine concern or mockery, I couldn't tell.

"I'll chop it in half, and bring it back to you." I say as I turned and pulled the wagon out again. I have a sneaky feeling that the cabinet room, or anything in there, or nearby will be the key. And having established that, it means I have to find my way back to that tower again.


	13. Chapter 13 - Sock

I headed up the same way, but this time I have the axe ready. Perhaps I really should go to the armory first, but I need to know where that is to begin with.

"what are you doing?"

I screamed and dropped the axe. Dad had been following me so it would seem.

"why, must you do that?" I turned to fume at him. "and what, are you doing outside of the library?"

"I thought it might be a good idea to see this room, and get a change of environment. I'm getting giddy from all the ancient german."

I am very sure, that it is not because I couldn't make sense of this place, that I refuse to deny that my dad can potentially be a psychopath. Also there is a high chance that I really don't want to understand this world, in fears of stepping on some time bug and changing the course of history because I messed up the time space continuum understanding in my head.

I picked up the axe and continued my journey back to the horrifying room. I should now point out that I believe my mind is gone, because any normal human being would have thought to stay far far away from this room, yet my course of action is to head, for the danger. Surely this place doesn't just mess with time and space, it messes with logic, and instincts. Perhaps the snake isn't the most dangerous thing here, this place, in general is.

I pointed to the room where I tried to mark but couldn't. dad went ahead and gently opened the door, then he turned back to grab my axe. So much for rolling eyes at me wanting to bring some defense. I took the pitchfork instead and he opened the door wide and stepped inside.

"where did you see the snake?"

"it was on the mantlepiece, then it leaped, and attacked the frog there." I pointed across the room.

"well, whatever it is, it's gone now." dad is now speaking from the floor, as he had put his head down like a tribal man listening for a stampede. He then got up, and looked around the room. "this place is incredible. See this is where the cabinet meeting will be held, possibly for the privacy. The head of the meeting, possibly the king or advisor will sit here, and then everyone else will sit here."

I'm not listening. And I'm not sorry. I need to confirm if the snake is gone. I went back to the spot I saw the snake attack the frog. And there was no sign of blood, or carnage, or that they were even here to begin with. I began banging things with the pitchfork, but nothing comes out. A good sign? Not really because now I have no idea which part of the castle they are at.

"alex look at this." dad said as he began opening up drawers. He pulled out a piece of parchment, with a drawing on it. It was the castle, and at the highest room of the tallest tower, there was a bright glow, as though it was acting like the lighthouse. "luminous."

"light?" I asked.

"could be to signify it lights up or gives light." he said.

"dad are you thinking this is where they kept the orb?" I frowned.

"you're sharp again alex." he said as he studied the drawing more. I looked into the stack of papers, and there was a drawing of the prince again.

"dad, this is the dude." I pulled it out to show him, then I pulled the entire stack. "these are notes?"

"yes they are." he looked over.

"they are written in languages that I don't understand, so I'll try to make a picture book out of them shall I?" I remarked as I flipped through them.

"no! No! Not so rough!" He pulled at my hand. I picked them up with two fingers like a tweezer, for his inspection, not without rolling my eyes. I began to sieve through what looked like letters that I don't understand. I left it with dad and walked away. From the window, I could see another angle of the castle, and I saw the highest tower, without the glow.

"dad there's the tower." I pointed. I hear an "uh huh", signifying that I'm not listened to. He is buried in the letters.

"it says here, the letter, that the duchess is to be married to the prince, prince Gerald! This all fits." He said excitedly.

"dad." I grabbed his hand, to get his attention. "all those notes, who gave them to you, and who told you this story?"

"why?" He stopped.

"dad it's clear, someone has been here, someone found this place, and told you exactly what you need to know to come and verify." I said. "this stinks of a plot."

"but why would dr. Loughlin want to do that?" He asked.

"again with that maniac." I rolled my eyes, hard. "dad the man is a psychopath. I don't know but he clearly has been here before, how else he could have told you all these, when in history nobody has found it, and, and!"

I cut him off before he could react.

"he is just as much as an anthropologist as you are, someone who is poised in the perfect position to leverage anyone who can be of use for fame, and if he already known all these, why would he not have published this place and make it known for full credit?"

This is starting to make some sense in a nonsense world. Smart wordplay, but one that I'm beginning to see where I can start to even find a heading.

"I don't know." He shook his head and looked at me. "why?"

"why what? Don't look at me, you're the one who made friends with him." I said, looking around. "what about the frogs that they are using for medicine, or whatever? What of the medical science, surely there must be a lab here?"

It was as though dad hadn't realize or he was impressed that I still remembered. He began leafing through the papers and I turned to the room. There was a heavy frog presence, but nothing tells of medicine. There were plenty of ornate items and the like, basically useless things if I'm solving a mystery. Great for a museum display, but not when I'm on a time crunch.

I went for the door, perhaps something else is down the corridor, or I might find a way to get up to the tower. I held my pitchfork tightly, and I hear my dad following. I pushed opened doors to check, until I was at the end, and a sharp left corner brought me down to another walkway. We stuck our heads out to check our bearings each time we make a turn, to ensure we are heading for the tower.

"alex, this way." I hear from behind. Dad was feeling a part of the wall.

"how did you even see this?" I asked as I watch him trace a crack in the wall that looked like the shape of a door.

"I've told you alex, you need to be astute in your observation, and see the big picture, while searching for details, remain calm- AAAAAA!"

A gush of humid, acrid air rushed out as he pressed his palm onto what looked like a mechanism to reveal the doorway by pushing forward the stone door. The rumbling of stone against stone was very unsettling as the entire corridor began to vibrate like in an earthquake.

"remain calm, you say…" I looked at my terrified dad. He reached to grab the handle to pull, but it wouldn't budge. "hold onto the handle dad."

I plunged the pitchfork into the stone crack and began to pry. The stone creaked a little and I dig it deeper. Dad has started to make birthing noises as he pulled.

Then I stopped.

"dad wait." I said and I pulled out the fork. Then I pushed the mechanism, and the stone door shuffled inwards.

"ahhh." he uttered. "classic push pull door. Ohhh! Maybe this is where it orginated!"

His theories are as ridiculous as this place.

I held onto the pitchfork as I began to ascend the stone steps that laid ahead of us. It was getting dark, as there was no cracks or windows, and the air was stale. I took out my phone and turned on the flashlight to light my way up. It was a winding stone stairs, and halfway up, I could feel my head getting light. Not sure if it is because of the altitude, or the lack of air, or the circular motion that resembles the inside of a washing machine.

"ack!" my head bumped something hard and I cringed immediately. I shone my light up and it was a trapdoor. We must have reached the top. Dad came over and pushed the door upwards. Surprisingly, I would have thought it is locked, but no. something just doesn't add up. Even video games back home, or escape rooms were tougher than this.

There was light up where the trapdoor leads and I turned off the flashlight and followed him up. We are now standing in a wide room with windows all over. Or should I say there were no walls to keep us from plummeting to our deaths below.

"alex, this is where they kept the luminous." he said as he began gesturing to the center, with his arms wide open as he turned around, looking at the floor. If anyone were to look up, they would probably think a disney wannabe princess is practicing a dance right now. I went over to look at the podium. It does look like where they would put a giant glowing orb. Except there is no orb.

"dad, do you think the missing orb, has something to do with why this place is trapped in a time freeze?" I asked.

"I'll need more research to the orb. I'm not done with the library." he said as he continued looking at the floor. "someone must have taken it."

I don't see what's so fascinating about the floor dad my dad has gotten onto his hands and knees. It is often a wonder, an entertainment to watch certain people work. They employ all their senses, like sniffing things, or licking things, other than just touching or seeing or hearing. This is where personal hygiene and safety goes out the window where a discovery is to be made. People can argue this is a sense of professionalism or a passion to the work they do, but to the ordinary human, like me, this is beyond weird.

"someone was here." he said. The great tracking native in my dad is speaking. "he, or she is not alone."

"were there footprints? Because I don't see any." I looked down.

"there are indents. And, scuffles. Look." he pointed to an area where the aging dirt seem to have moved. And a white scratch next to it.

"some people, fighting?" I asked.

"yes, yes. Look here's more."

I put my foot next to what looked like an indent in the floor, to get a gauge of what it is. It isn't a foot print, but there was a significant depression caused by something heavy landing. This is dad's work, not mine. So I went around the perimeter of the tower to look.

"dad wait." I say as I looked down, while holding the pillar with my dear life. "look."

There was a distinct mark that something was pushed over the edge. Dad scrambled across the floor towards me and inspected the floor.

"yes, very good alex." He continued to peer. "someone, or something was pushed over, and they fell."

Very carefully, we poked our head out over the edge. Too high. Screw it. Even I have no fear of heights, the prospect of looking down this is worse than the time I went sky diving, for the prospect of the hard earth and all that stands between is too horrifying to behold.

"dad." I say. "we can experiment."

I said as I slide the axe he had taken along with him and positioned it right where the slide mark is.

"do you think this was thrown off or fall?" I asked. Dad then traced his hand over the slide mark.

"thrown." He said. "if not, there would be a lighter mark, or something at the edge, but it looks way too smooth and uninterrupted so it was thrown."

"right." I said as I put my foot on the axe, and slide it back for a bit, before stepping hard and kicking it away.

We watch the axe, as though in slow motion flew out of the tower in an arc and falling, doing spectacular cartwheels and gaining velocity as it falls through the air like a tiny skydiving axe.

"oooof!" We cringed as it hit the roof of another turret of the lower towers. The axe wood shattered and the splinters and metal axe flew in various pieces across the compound.

"so whatever it is that flew, if given the same weight or force, would not have made it to the ground..." I said slowly. "or at least it didn't make it to the ground in one piece..."

Dad got up and walked back to the podium.

"alex, hypothesize." He said as he paced. "the orb is here, guarded and there's no way people could have scaled the tower."

"or maybe they flew in you never know." I say as I grabbed the pillar for support with the gust of wind.

"you have to be at a very high place and far in order to glide in, and with the wind like this, there's no way to know." He said. "so someone came up, possibly to steal the orb, then someone came up to stop him or her."

"then they had a scuffle, possibly one socked the other so they fell onto the floor, making that indent." I pointed. Dad nodded dramatically.

"then one way or another, one of them was pushed off the ledge. Possibly the orb was thrown, and dropped, and shattered." he continued.

"that's why the place is frozen in time." I concluded. "because the orb, was destroyed. But where did everybody else go?"

"they could have vanished." dad said.

"if they did, then wouldn't the castle, be in some state of mid activity, like, chairs array, or plates fallen to the ground, or something. This place looked pretty tidy for everyone to have vanished all at once."

"very impressive alex." dad turned to me. "you know you should keep up this good work, you'll be an amazing analyst in no time!"

"except I hate being an analyst." I said and turned back to the podium. "dad what was it you say about the space part of this time space weirdness?"

"that the place was trapped? In a separate dimension?" he said. None of these make sense, not because I'm not a physicist or anything, but even movie plots had to make some logical connection right?

"I'm going to go explore the castle more…" I say. "there's no point staying up here unless we want to end up like the axe."

Dad mused and followed me as I picked up the pitchfork and we headed down the trapdoor.

"maybe you can help explore, instead of staying in the library that probably contains potions recipes to turn you into frogs." I say as I thumped downward.

"alex I found books of medicine and engineering of an ancient time, those are precious resources." he chided.

"but none of them, is going to help us find what happened to this place, and find a way out, and possibly, stop this time freeze and maybe people can come find this place." I say. There was no answer from behind.

We came down to the hidden door, and decided to leave it open. Then we headed down further back to the library. I'm hungry and I need food. No food just means I'll get cranky very soon. I looked at the stash of food and I start to mentally do some calculations of how much longer I can survive here, and if we need to start rationing.

Maybe I should just eat candy for now. They usually make me fuller than anything in the afternoon, screwing a proper dinner.

"I'll start with the basement." dad said, digging into a protein bar he had stashed away in his backpack. "perhaps I can find where the scientists experimented and researched. Much of these has to come somewhere."

"and if you find a screaming corpse, please don't lead it back to the library." I say as I grabbed the fork and went outside. "I'll round to the back of the castle, see what's there."

"we'll meet back here, to do a time check again in three hours." he said, setting another alarm on his phone. He stared at me, until I did the same. "be careful out there."

"of what?" I asked. "the snake?"

I forgot it existed.

"just be careful." he snapped and turned towards the bathroom direction.

I stared hard before I went outside, and cut across a courtyard with an archway to the side of the castle where the walkway we entered is. I followed the stone walkway, hopefully it'll circle the perimeter and lead me somewhere. I came to a staircase, and climbed, which brought me up to a tall and reinforced high wall, that looked more military than anything else. I see stands and stable stalls, as well as sheds. Armory.

I hurried down the nearest stairs I could find and pulled open doors.

Strike. There are swords, shields, lances and all kinds of weaponry. Another corridor down had light filtering in, with suits of armor, lining in storage.

Wow.

Mimicking the movie characters, I picked a belt and strapped it onto my waist, I put a short sword to the side in its sheath, then I picked out another axe that looked way much more dependable than the one we sent mini-skydiving. There was a whole row of blunts, and I picked the club. Something I'll never ever pick in an role playing game online, but this time, it feels like this might help in not hurting myself.

In the distant, I heard a faint clank. There shouldn't be anyone around, nor should this place have things moving other than the accursed snake and frog. Dad is underground so whatever he did, shouldn't be coming from the direction of the armors.

I put down the axe, and held onto the club tightly. If it's the snake, I'll be sure to club it properly this time.


	14. Chapter 14 - Supply

I held the club high, like those ready to whack a baseball when it comes flying, or in my case, a bat ready to whack any zombie heads in the video game I play almost every other day. The armors in the other room looked terrifying, as though any time, they will spring to life and start chasing me. Having one fall on me is enough to kill, so I need to be agile, and nimble, and swift, three key characteristics of a ninja that I am definitely not.

I approached one, and clanked my club against it. I can only imagine the sheer horror of wearing one of these back in the days. There was no hollow sound clanking, much like what the movies would have us believe. The armor was hard, sturdy, and thick. Being trapped in one of these would do the trick.

I decided I need to get to the opposite side quickly, if anything these things staring down at me is enough to freak me out. This is a daylight haunted house, and I'm not waiting for a jump scare.

I took a deep breath, and steadied myself. When I'm ready, I'm going to sprint forward to the other side of the room. And there's no better time than now.

I pushed against the floor and dashed, staring hard at the end of the corridor, with my club held up ready to whack anything that comes my way. I ran as fast as my feet could take me.

Crash.

I screamed and didn't stop running but turned. Indeed one of my worst nightmare has come to life. One of the armor had slid down from leaning against the wall and crashed onto the stone floor.

"oh my god no!" I screamed as I dashed further and pulled open the nearest door I could get my hands on. I didn't dare to turn around, I'm not sure what I'm afraid to see, and I'm not waiting to find out. I yanked the door ahead open and threw myself forward. I turned around briefly to pull the door shut, and in the split second of view, I saw nothing except the fallen armor. Nope. I don't care.

I slammed the door and backed away from it. The place was slightly lighter, and I turned around quickly to get my bearings. It looked like a workshop, there was a furnace, or unless I'm very much mistaken, an oversized old school pizza oven. There are anvils, hammers and other things that I don't quite understand, but they looked like torture devices to me. Time to go, nothing to see here.

I passed the furnace to go to the other door in sight. Curiosity has me, so I peeked. Surely someone would be burnt to crisps within seconds if this thing lit up. How do you light a furnace anyway? Isn't there supposed to be a giant bellow somewhere?

There was a wooden window near me so I went to push it open. It took me a few minutes of banging and knocking against it with my full body weight to see a ledge lock. I pulled the metal hook up and then pushed the wooden panel out, letting the light in. nobody saw that, so nobody needs to know. Sure enough there was a giant bellow, at the side of the furnace. Some supply closets against the wall, and half made weaponry littered the place. I walked to the bellow, and pressed down on the handle. It didn't move. So I wonder, if jack invited the giant to come move this thing because certainly I can't.

I climbed onto the handle, hoping to use my weight to push it down, having done that plenty of times on this trip and starting to feel awesome about my weight being of use. And yet, my weight could only slowly push the handle down, blowing a very gentle air into the furnace. Surely if I were to exist at this time period, I would not be called fat. I mean nobody called me fat now still, possibly afraid of the repercussions, but still. At least I won't be judged here.

Getting bored, I got off the bellow, again a phrase I'll never utter to anyone ever in my life. I walked past the furnace front to get to the other door. Again curiosity had me, and I peeked again. There was something sparkling in there. I took my phone and turned on the torch. Sure enough something sparkling in there among the ashes. Not wanting to touch ash, I put my club in to push it towards me. Somewhere out there, some jackass making a meme about women and shiny things is laughing to himself.

It was a yellow piece of what I would assume is glass, tarnished by the ashes and soot. I looked around and saw a pair of metal thongs which I then use to pick up the glass. This is a workshop, so there must be water somewhere, where they cool down metal. This is what they showed in movies, again I could be wrong.

Yet I was somewhat right, because I turned around and I tripped over something, causing me to lose my hold on the thongs and the glass, followed by a gasp and a scream of "no", then a plop sound of something falling into water, and then a plonk and clank of the thong onto the side of a bucket and onto the stone floor.

I picked up the thongs again and poked it into the water, pulling out the glass. It was yellow, and clear, and somewhat broken.

Yellow, clear, broken… why does that sound familiar…

The hairs on my back and arms stood, as I realized what this could be. Sure, I disprove many of fairytales, but given my current circumstances can I afford to be skeptical? My heart and mind raced, I need to find my dad. I know what to do and I need to find my dad. First I need to get out of this workshop, but before that, I need my club.

Because there's a snake on the anvil next to the bucket.

"oh no you don't." I shoved the thongs with the glass to the workstation next to me and picked up my club. "you're that same bastard from upstairs. Now I don't know how you move around, I don't care, but you stay away from me."

I swung the club near it, trying to scare it away. It merely dared back and continued to flick its tongue at me.

"what do you want?" I asked. Again, I realize, I'm talking to a snake. "you want the glass? What do you want it for? Go find the frog. Or have you eaten it. You sick bastard."

I'm not sure I'm making any sense.

"DAD!" I shouted. It was a long shot, but worth a try. I looked at the snake again. It wasn't advancing, it was just looking.

I took a step back. It didn't move. Except that annoying tongue. I took another step to the side, its head followed me. I reached one hand towards the glass, its head lowered, and I retracted my hand and back to holding the club, ready to whack. Then I took another step towards the glass, but this time, I was going for the thongs. I fling the metal thing at the snake, and it made a loud clank against the anvil it was resting on. It scurried back down and I made a grab for the glass and turned to run.

I collided with the door, painfully, forcing it to open and again, for the second time in mere hours, I find myself slamming a door, as though I'm running away. Well I am. Running away.

I don't know where I am, but I'm determined to find my way back. Now that I know the snake is back there, I'm going the other direction. I'm at a corridor now, and I ran. I just need to put some distance behind me and the door. I ran past what looked like a pantry, and a kitchen, but I didn't care for now.

Wait. Kitchen?

I stopped and turned around. There was no sign of the snake and the closed door. Surely, I can check out the kitchen, if I lost the snake. I took a quick darting step towards the opening and slipped into the spacious kitchen which, I would say is a ballroom kitchen. There's indeed an oversized pizza oven, but I am pretty sure back in those days this is just an oven, for expensive tasting food.

It is unlikely I would find food here, but I'm willing to have faith. Actually no. there's no point. The food here has been stale for centuries, and who knows if I were to leave this place, even to go get water maybe I'll be poisoned immediately from century old food.

I found another way to get out, which leads to the dining room. Not forgetting this is a castle, I had expected the dining room to be huge. There was a long table with countless place settings. What's the point of such a long table, because nobody can talk to everyone like that. And even with the king sitting right up there, who the hell can hear him clearly?

I walked down the long table, towards the head where the grand chair is. Next to it, possibly the queen's seat, then followed by princes, and princesses.

I miss fried chicken. And cheetos. And chocolate bars. Oh and mocha. Would kill for some carbonara now. Selling my soul for ice cream and possibly milk and cereal.

Okay, this is not the time. I need dad. I dashed ahead to the other side of the room. I just realized there are a lot of doors, in a castle. It has always been a fantasy to live somewhere big, with all the celebrity mansions, and manors. Maybe that's not the best of ideas. It's hard enough to keep track where my phone charger is in my small apartment, I can only imagine the nightmare if I had to locate something in a house this big.

But then again, many rooms would let me have a themed room each day. Polar bear room, ice room, icecream cloud room, unicorn room, and I am possibly delusional now, seeing how hungry I am. If only gps works here.

I ran down the corridor and looked out to the far right. I had thought the castle is big, but sometimes it is so overwhelming that I forget how big the compound can be. Thank you aerial shots. There is a plain of grass far out, with what looked like a lake or big pond, surrounded by forest at the other end. Just how far, would the time freeze go?

I'm reminded of a verse in dad's story. Wasn't there a pond, that the princess dropped the golden ball she was playing with? Should I go check out the lake?

Never mind. I heard the familiar sssss again and I'm running. I looked back and saw the side of what appears to be the snake tail at the turn of the corridor. The sword strapped to my waist is now weighing me down for some reason. Perhaps I should really go for strength training exercises.

Is there a scenario, where I strike first? Can we eat snakes for our dinner? Or is it too poisonous to consume?

I made my way towards the corner I saw as quietly as possible. All instincts are telling me no, oh hell no, get the hell out. But somehow I couldn't resist. I hear slithering sounds, and thumps, I'm not even sure what's going on. In a very odd manner, I peeked around the corner, without exposing as much of my body as possible. I see the snake, slithering towards my direction.

Nope. I turned and ran without consideration. This stupid, stupid snake. I turned my head to see it round the corner. You know what, perhaps I had enough, perhaps I'm scared to death. I reached for the nearest item I could find other than the club I'm holding, and started to fling backwards to the snake. It might be an antique, a vase, some part of an armor I don't care. I want the snake to die, okay at least, not to chase after me. Preferably paralyzed or something. As I raised what looked like a candelabra and turned to fling, I noticed the snake had stopped, actually quite far away. It has stopped chasing and it was looking towards the dining room. Then it slithered.

Well, screw you snake.


	15. Chapter 15 - Confront

I contemplated whether to follow the snake, to see what has gotten its attention. Again, judgement has failed me. I'm very sure it has always, since i seem to make a series of very bad decisions in my life.

I began to side step the debris i had flung towards the snake along the corridor, like a mini hurricane that came through. I leaned close to the wall, so as not to give myself away, or that i might be some psychopathic sadist who keeps poking at danger.

I hear the sss sound from the snake as it slithers, and i peeked into the dining room. The snake is on the carpet, zig zagging its way towards the chairs. I watch as it attached itself onto the legs of one of the seat and bring itself up towards the place setting. It was clearly, the second plate next to the end, where supposedly the king sat. The snake then coiled itself onto the placemat where a plate would sit on ordinarily.

How comical would it be if i have a pot right now, and i just keep it trapped under there.

Not worth the risk.

I then tiptoed back to the corridor and make my way down to get to the other side, looking back once in a while to check. It was then i heard the faint 'ribbit' again. So the frog has not died. Incredible.

Can we eat frogs?

I broke into a run after getting a considerable distance away and found an archway that leads to the garden plains and the big lake.

Should i? Shouldn't i?

Ribbit.

The sound is near. I looked around to find the source, and sure enough, next to the steps leading down, was a frog. I am ninety-nine percent sure that this, is the same frog, the one who got attacked, the one who brought us here, and the one who was watching me use an outdoor bathroom. Pervert.

"you." I said as i pointed my club at it. Perhaps that was a little hostile, because it turned to hop away before i could stop it. Never mind.

I stepped down to the grass, and rejected the notion of going to find the frog in the midst of the bushes. I don't know how poison ivy looks like, so i shall avoid touching anything for now. I slowly walk towards the water, and i reached down to my pocket for the yellow glass. It wasn't glowing, neither does it look impressive. Honestly, i could be wrong. This is just a shard that the blacksmith had discarded.

I reached the water edge, in front of the giant lake. Any other day, this would be the time to take a picture for social media. Any other day, i would be staring at how awesome this is, and wondering if i could paint this on a canvas. Any other day. But today i find myself ignoring the beautiful pine trees in the far shore, the mountains in the distance, and the wind blowing my hair to the side. I find myself looking into the water, as though i would find something. I looked at the glass again, nothing. It is very clear, and i wonder what the sun can do to it.

I've never tried to light anything on fire with glass before, now seems like any good time to try. I held it against the sun, and looked through it. The clarity is amazing, i mean it's glass, but the color distortion beyond that was interestingly not much, considering it is a very vibrant yellow. I held it to my eye and peered through it, like a pair of tinted sunglasses.

And there, out in the lake, was a glowing spot in the middle of the water.

I took down the glass, and there was no spot, not even a reflection. I put the glass up, and there it is. Something is there, and i have a sneaky feeling, it's another piece of the glass.

Ribbit.

I looked down to see the frog standing next to me.

"i don't suppose you know how to get there?" I asked it, pointing to the glowing spot with my club.

Ribbit.

Again, i find myself talking to animals. Not that that is anything wrong, or unusual considering me, but society has a way of judging people who exhibit unexplainable behaviours. Somehow, talking to a living creature is in the same category as pillages and looters. I'm very certain, that is why my circle of friends has the diameter of a penny. I'm judged.

I'm not sorry for being an independent woman. You should be sorry for thinking women cannot be independent.

"hello?" I asked. The last time it worked, what's with the frog? "there. I, go there."

I gestured to the glowing spot, and to myself, and pushed my hands away to gesture to the glowing spot again.

"boat?" I cup my hands together and pretended that it floated on air.

Ribbit.

The frog turned away, and hopped into the water.

Into is the wrong word. Because it hopped onto, the water. On, to, the water. Then it hopped two more times.

The bloody frog is walking on water... sorry hopping on water. I stared as it made its way further and further out to the lake.

I put my foot forward, and tapped the surface of the water. It was solid. Like walking on a bouncy carpet. I put the entire foot down, and I'm not even sinking. My shoes aren't even wet.

This doesn't make sense.

This time my judgement is back. I am not going out there to look for the glowing piece, until i have confirmation that i will not fall in and die somewhere. I need dad to see this. Somehow does it feel like I'm the one making all the discoveries and not him, when he's the anthropologist.

I turned away towards the castle just in time to see the snake slithering down the steps i came. Shit.

"oh my god not you again." I said, this time, determined to confront it. Even if it is a venomous snake. I raised my club and ready to whack and i almost could, if it hadn't spotted me and swung its flexible body away. It stopped advancing and looked at me intently. I swing again, it avoided.

Wasn't there a video online that a man in a snake enclosure, slapped a cobra? Can i do that? With the club? But then again, with wavy tube man here, i might miss and it can take the chance to bite me. Is this, what I'm willing to risk?

No.

I then took a step back, and circled to the side, it was watching me, but not moving.

"okay, I'm just going to say this." I say to the snake as i held the club at position. "you're not attacking me, and I'm clearly not your kind of food. I have plenty of fats that can kill you. So what are you? And what do you want?"

Honestly, I'm not sure why i did that, because if it starts to speak i might actually wet myself. So i don't know what answer am i looking for.

"are you going to kill me?" I asked. The snake did not react, but continued to look at me. "do you speak german?"

I don't speak german but someone on television said something before.

"spreken ze englias?"

The snake pointed its head towards me and slithered over.

"no no no!" I backed and raised my club higher. The snake stopped. "so you spreken german."

What's german, for german...? I don't know. Surely sign language might help.

"I", i gestured to myself. "go inside."

And i pointed to the castle.

"you." I pointed to it. "bye bye."

I waved bye.

I made a crab-like movement towards the castle, and the snake followed.

"no!" I reached out my palm. Bad idea. "you. Stay."

I pointed at it, and pointed to the ground. I don't know how far snakes comprehend, but people do that to dogs all the time, and people keep snakes as pets, so what gives.


	16. Chapter 16 - Shame

I think there is no shame, that when a human, one that lives mostly in the city, is freaked the hell out, when running away from a snake, especially if the snake began to chase.

I'm all for cardio, and I make a promise that if I ever make it back home, I would join a gym and start running, doing weights, and everything that makes me a ninja. For now, let me make it back, or at least, away from the snake.

"okay why are you chasing me!" I shouted. "DAD!"

No sign of him.

This is one of those times, I wish I knew a bit more about animals, specifically, is there anything that repels snakes, or anywhere I can go where the snake won't come. They like dark and damp places? I don't know shit. Can they climb stairs? Maybe not that well. Good. I can run up stairs.

Stairs. Give me stairs right now.

I turned my head left and right, and up ahead. Stairs, just stairs. Where are the bloody stairs! I hate stairs but I need one now.

In the corner, I saw one to the left. Amazing! I grabbed the edge of the wall and swung myself leftward and took the first few steps in one stride. I caught a glimpse of the snake, which is advancing. Then it stopped on the bottom. It's making hissing sounds as I reached the first landing, it attempted to climb up, but seeing how it can only manage one step at one go, I took the chance to climb further. Surely by the third floor I can lose it.

I didn't stop, although I did try to make my steps a little softer than the thumping elephant I am. Once on the third floor, I looked left and right, and decided on left. I need to get to somewhere, where I can lose the snake, and get to the basement where dad probably is.

I patted my pocket to check the if the glass is still there, and I unzipped my jacket as I began to sweat. This is not good, obviously, but a little exercise never hurt anyone. I hurried down the corridor, where I saw a turn and it would lead me back to where the library is at the first floor. I found a staircase quickly and hurried down. I stopped for a moment to listen, there's no hissing. Good.

I landed on the ground floor, and dashed for the direction dad went earlier. But just as I was heading away, the timer on my phone blared to life. I pulled it out to silence it, and I listened. This perhaps is not a bad thing, because it means dad might be coming back. I just have to wait.

I retreated back into the library and I closed the door. I then began to hug the wall and walk, to check for any cracks in the floor that snakey could come through. There weren't any windows, just skylights above us. So I rounded the perimeter, and found no holes.

Now to check the walls, and cracks. I looked up at each of the walls and shelves against the wall, trying to find something, but at the same time hoping I don't find anything. I began to wander to the section that dad has not made a mess out of yet. They look very out of place, at least to my eyes, because instead of books, they have leather-bound manuals, scrolls and what I can only assume will disintegrate the moment it goes outside, parchment.

I gently reached out for one and pulled. Apparently, I can't because it was a large and very long roll of parchment. I began to walk backwards to pull it out, and I had already hit the other shelf before the other end toppled out. It was a heavy roll of as well. I carried to the nearest table, and rolled it open.

It was a family tree. I took two books that were nearest to me and set them on the two corners of the parchment, before I roll the other end out, and have another two books act as paperweight. The family tree was drawn in portraits, outlining the royal line. Of course, I can't read anything, so I relied on the pictures being painted. They were very traditional german portraits, so highly inaccurate given photographic standards.

Right at the bottom, was just one name and a portrait. A portrait of the prince whose sketch sits in dad's folder, and of the bust I took from the cabinet room. So the line was indeed ended right here, since everyone disappeared.

I went back to the shelves. This must be the family archives section, or at least for the royal family. Just then the door to the library opened and I heard my name. dropping everything, I dashed to the door and saw my dad had it wide open.

"oh my god close the door!" I screamed as I ran over and pulled him inside. I took a quick check outside and slammed the door.

"alex?" I turned to see dad carrying a huge bunch of leather-bound books.

"dad the snake is back!" I said to him, pulling him away from the door. "it chased me down the corridor dad."

"why would a snake chase you? Did you provoke it? I told you snakes are shy creatures." dad chided.

"it kept following me!" I threw my arms, together with the club in the air. "first the armory, then the blacksmith workshop, then dining room and the lake! At some point I may have said spreken ze englias to it and then it kept chasing me into the castle and down the corridor. I shook him off when I climbed the stairs."

"why would you talk to the snake?" he frowned. "and you've been to so many places of the castle."

"oh yes dad you won't believe this!" I pulled out the glass piece for him and told him about what happened in the workshop, and the lake I found.

"alex this is not glass." he said as he examined it, taking out his glasses to have a look. "this, is some kind of quartz."

"dad I don't care what is it made of." I don't get what's wrong with him, he likes to focus on the less important things. "the thing is, what if it is the orb that we were supposed to find at the tower, and the one which controls the time and now everything is whacked because it was broken?!"

He continued to look at the quartz and did the same as I told him to, looking through it.

"look, there's something glowing there." he pointed at the top of the shelf where I was. I snatched the glass from him and looked. Sure enough, the entire place was as it is, but the top of the shelf where I took the family tree from, is glowing.

I handed dad back the glass and I hurried over. There were no chairs around, so I began moving the books from the shelf out so I could climb it like a ladder.

"oh careful alex!" dad cried. "these books are precious!"

Apparently my safety is a secondary concern when artefacts are concerned. Ignoring dad, I began to grab the ledge and stepped up. When I reached the top, I peered over the edge, and unknowingly inhaled a breath of dust, that caused me to choke.

But in the midst, I saw a dull piece of something. I reached with my hand to take it, and sure enough, it's another one of a fragment piece of quartz.

"dad there's one here!" I said as I showed it to him. And as I turned to hand him the quartz piece, I caught sight of something on the floor on the next shelf. "FROG!"

Dad turned to see the frog, which hopped away.

"dad get that frog! Get the frog!" I screamed as I climbed down hurriedly, missing the last one and I fell to the floor.

"alex!" dad cried as he ran forward a second too late to catch me. I turned and crawled to get up, and I ran over to where the frog was.

"dad get the frog!" I screamed as I looked around for a blob of green.

"what are you going to do with a frog?" he followed in a huff.

"that frog is the one who led us here! That's the one who can understand english!" I ran down the shelf and couldn't find it.

"alex what has gotten into you! you're not talking sense." dad grabbed my arm.

"I know." I looked at him with raised eyebrows. "but considering we came here, following a frog, and I got chased by a relentless snake that doesn't seem to want to bite me, into a castle frozen in time, I think sense has already left us the moment we passed through that log dad."

He contemplated my words. As odd and as weird as it is, he knows there is some truth in what I'm saying. There is no way we can tell people we found a magic kingdom just by passing through a log, that was shown to us by a frog.

Wait.

"wait. So the frog, could understand english." I said. "that's why he brought us here after I charade-talked to him. But the snake doesn't, and the snake understands only german."

"fine alex, we'll do it your way." dad released my arm, that is starting to lose blood. "it just means the frog is outside of this time freeze, and the snake has been here the whole time?"


	17. Chapter 17 - Photograph

"I don't know, but somehow, I'm very sure, both of them are related to this mess somehow." I say. "also dad, as a precaution, since you can speak german, if you do see the snake, talk german to it. It seem to respond."

"my, my alex." dad seemed to be impressed. "I am thoroughly impressed, your observation skills and experimentation, why didn't you pursue academia like I suggested?"

He's impressed that I was talking to a snake. Not, I survived a running chase with a snake, or that I didn't get bitten by a snake, but by the fact that I talked to a snake, and figured out what human language the snake could understand.

"like you said, you suggested." I turned away to look for the frog.

"so, let's think about this." dad said, sinking down to the nearest chair. "we are here to find edlewan, and a frog lead us here. So we found the castle in a time freeze, and the entire kingdom in different space. The only inhabitants seem to be an orlov's viper, and a frog, and then there are these glass bits scattered all over the place that could belong to the orb that controls time."

"my version goes, dr. loughlin told you to come here, because he's sneaky bastard, and wants you to do something for him. Then we find the forest, and a frog lead us here, then we find the castle in a time freeze, and the entire kingdom in different space. The only inhabitants seem to be an equally bastard snake, and a frog, and then there are these glass bits scattered all over the place that could belong to the orb that controls time."

"so alex, we can find out what happen, if we piece the glass bits together." dad said.

"that's why I came back to find you, because I don't know what will happen, if I pull the piece out of the lake. The frog was practically walking on the water surface like jesus, and I'm certain, that has something to do with the piece that was in the water." I said. "also, in your story, the princess was playing by a "lake" when the ball fell?"

"very, very impressed alex." dad said, again ignoring all context and circumstances. "if you ever think about changing careers, you tell daddy."

"don't call yourself daddy… please." I said as I put the two pieces of the quartz together, and surprise, surprise. It doesn't fit. "dad take one."

I handed him one.

"with this, and if we split up, we might be able to find all the pieces faster." I said.

"good idea." dad took one and began to look around.

"also, I can't help but feel that it's dinner time soon. And our food supply, is gradually falling."

"ah ha." dad said as he pocketed the piece. "that is where, survival outdoors is so important."

He then picked up a pocket knife, some rope and things I didn't understand.

"alex, go get some firewood from the woods by the lake you said." dad said and handed me a small knife.

"sorry dad, I have this." I unsheathed the sword. "also I think I can find an axe."

"okay, then when you're done, meet me at the bathroom entrance." dad said excitedly. "also didn't you say you found a dining room?"

"yes, somewhere there." I pointed in the direction I came running from.

"okay. I'll go see if I can find a kitchen, and get some supplies."

"dad we are not eating anything from there. This is thousand year old mold that will infect us when we go." I held his arm as he began to open the door.

"don't be silly alex, I'm not getting food supplies, I'm getting things we can cook with." he continued to open the door.

"so much for surviving outdoors." I said as I peered outside. No sign of the snake. "dad listen for the ssss sound that snakes make. And the ribbit that bastard hopper."

"it's hissing, and language!" dad chided. I ignored and crossed over to the courtyard for my short cut. I decided to head for the blacksmith workshop first to get the axe. I made sure to keep my footsteps silent and hopped along. I rounded to the outside, where I had opened the window before to hoist myself over. There, I found a leather pouch, that hopefully is not, a jockstrap, and put the axe in, as well as the flint I found nearby. I hope they are indeed flint. Then I took the lantern before hoisting myself out of the window again.

It was then I saw trees, but my first thought is I wouldn't know how to identify what is firewood. Is any wood firewood? If so can't we just burn tables? And chairs? Surely some wood is better than others? Then I looked back inside. There's a furnace, surely there's firewood somewhere to set it, as well as the kitchen. I hoisted myself back in again and checked for the other areas, and other rooms. I went outside again, along the walkway. What about a shed? Surely there's a fairytale stump with an axe specially for doing this.

Instead of wood, as I walked around the castle, I found dad. He had pots and pans, as well as ladles and knives.

"alex." dad said. "where's the firewood?"

"I'll ask you, surely the kitchen and the workshop will keep a stock of it?"

Dad thought for a moment. Then he began walking further away, and indeed there was a shed. I opened the door to heaps of firewood, hay, and stone. I gathered a bunch, as well as hay.

"alright now what?" I asked.

"come look at what I found." dad said as he led the way back to the bathroom entrance. "this, is actually just a main underground entrance, for the servants. The royals will come from the other end to the bathroom."

I followed dad and paused.

"wait dad." I say as I blocked his way. "didn't this place… not part of the time freeze?"

"yes?" dad said. I put down the wood and hay, and took out a ladle he had in his arms and I threw it down the stairs. As it tumble, making clinky clanky sounds, before landing at the bottom. I then went down the steps and picked it up.

"time stops, but doesn't reverse dad." I picked up the rusty crusty ladle and walked back up to him. Dad had the moment of truth on his face.

"well, I guess we'll have our dinner here." dad put down all the supplies he had at the top, and picked up our own tools and headed down. I unstrapped the sword and bags and put them down. I looked around. Surely if the snake or frog comes, they can't possibly carry them away… right?

I walked down to dad, and stopped as I took out the quartz fragment to check. I'm more convinced that this is some time control crystal ball because despite the time freeze, it didn't change, or age. It's just, yellow. Convinced, I put it back into my pocket and went down with dad. I followed his winding turns, past doors that were opened by him and looked into underground storage, pantries, and what suspiciously looked like the potions room from hogwarts.

Then dad went deeper down, and turned on his phone flashlight. I did the same and checked the time. We have been here for two days. Reception is still non-existence, but at least, I'm back on the right time. I could feel my skin dry a little, and oddly enough, tiny hairs on my eyebrow that weren't there before.

Then as dad went down further, I hear the sound of water again. This place, must be built on a underground river or sorts. Solid foundation people…

Then dad opened a door, and immediately the walls were more ground than bricks. And further in, the sound of water flowed even louder.

"dad are you suggesting, we eat fish?" I asked as the air started getting humid.

"very clever." dad said as he stepped out into a cave chamber. "look."

As he shone the light, I could vaguely see what's in this chamber, except my voice is echoing like an opera singer. Then in an instant, the place lit up. I turned to see dad shining his torch against a giant mirror next to the doorway, and the light began to reflect upon other mirrors placed in the cave.

"didn't they use this to film the mummy movie?" I asked.

"ancient tricks, this is why technology, will never trump human ingenuity." dad said triumphantly, as though he was the one who thought of this system. I then looked at the pan below it. "this is where they would have a torch or a small fire, to make light to bounce off the other mirrors in the past."

Cool.

Dad placed the torch properly and came down to the river. I followed him down, and marveled at how I have not slipped and fall due to the thick moss that is covering everything. I shone my light on the water, and sure enough I saw fish.

"dad…" I said as I shone the light up the river. "do they come from somewhere? Or are they living here?"

"I can't pinpoint the species, but they should be indigenous to this cave, seeing how big they are. But because cave fishes are very rare but also they don't grow very big due to the lack of food and minerals, I'm guessing they do come from somewhere else. And I'm very sure, this cave river serves the castle in some way. If not they wouldn't have built this place."

"so how do you catch them?" I asked. Dad had already stepped onto a rock on the river and squatted down. His hand poised over the water, and then calmly, he snatched one out of the water and tossed it to me. I would like to point out, that I didn't scream, but I did yell out in surprise. "uh, what do I do with it?"

"take the bag and fill it with water, then put the fish in." dad said, going back to the river. I looked over to see an abandoned sturdy bag that dad put down and went to scoop a large bag of water, which was a mistake, given I forgot how heavy water is. I then went to the stand that they put the pan with dad's torch, and hung the bag on it.

Flopping fish is now flipping on the rocks, trying to get water. Really? Bare hands? Wont' they scratch me with scales? Mum seem fine picking them up with hers for the annoying aquarium she has back home when we were young, where countless photos were taken of me pointing at the fish. I looked around for something I could use. And dad tossed another one up.

"alex, pick them up and put them in the water!" he called out. I looked out again, and caught sight of another stand, and there was a pan on it. I emptied the ashes onto the floor and went to the water to run it across the downstream flow. Then I scooped up the fishes one by one and put it in the bag.

"I know improvisation, but this is madness." I say as I put the third one dad had tossed over. "dad can't we put them on ice? Surely there's an ice storage here?"

"haven't found one yet." dad called, as he tossed a fourth one. "that should be enough. Two for each of us."

He then scooped up the water and we carried the bag upstairs, with much difficulty.

"I was hoping we can cook the fish down there and eat it straight, but since the utensils won't work down there, we'll have to carry this to the kitchen."

"thanks for thinking this through dad." I say as I carried the bag of water with one hand, and desperately trying to pick up all the pots and pans he left at the entrance of the basement.

"it's called trial and error." he bent to pick up other things. I decided, since they will die anyway, I put the pans and pots and blunt items into the bag of water so I have more space to get my sword and leather bag. Then with another trying attempt, we haulled towards the kitchen.

There, dad attempted to light the fire of the medieval stove while I "tried" to help. The flint worked marvels at making the firewood light up, as well as a part of dad's arm hair. I decided to let him do the honors of cooking, while I go get us more water. I decided to go back to the cave, mostly because, I wanted to get a glimpse of the potions room.


	18. Chapter 18 - Mirror

On the way back from going down, I decided to stop at the potions room. I know they didn't really make potions, but elixirs or medicines, could be considered potions anyway in the old days.

I pushed open the door further, and lit the place with my phone light. There was an ominous looking cauldron, surprised to see it empty and not bubbling over with goop. Tables and shelves of vials, containers, jars of things I would prefer not to know about. There were leather bound notebooks, quills, and ink bottles, as though this place literally was lifted out of the Hogwarts castle. Or is it the other way round?

In the room, there was interestingly enough, a mirror. It is an odd thing to have, but one I wouldn't deny now that I'm inside a magic castle with magic spell or curse on time cast on it. I know this, takes direct reference from the frog and the princess story, but I can't help wonder if this mirror is a reference to the snow white story.

The frame was ornate, and decorated, and the polished surface was clearer than my own mirror, that I can see myself, as well as the beaming light from the phone.

"mirror, mirror on the wall." I murmured. Of course nothing happened. I laughed and turned away to see something, not before something reflected off the light that shone into the mirror. For a moment I thought it was another piece of quartz, and I took out mine, and looked through it. Nothing.

Then I peered in further, but it was too dark. I decided to get some light, so I doubled back to the kitchen, borrowed some fire to light the lantern I took from the workshop, not answering my dad who is now roasting the fishes on skewers and headed downstairs again. With the lantern, I lit the other candles and lamps in the potions room and walked to the mirror.

Bearing in mind, the legend of bloody mary, I avoided having any candles in the reflection.

"mirror, mirror on the wall." I repeated. This time I waited. My reflection remained still. Then slowly, my reflection in the mirror warped slightly. I reached out to touch it, and it wobbled and rippled, as though it was a liquid surface. As it rippled, I began to see a form take shape around me, like it was hugging me.

To be really honest, I freaked. It was like being told there's a ghost who has been haunting me that I can't see or touch, and it's hugging me for oh my god's sake. But then the form began to take shape, and it was of a man who had his head over my shoulder and hugging me, and obscuring my view of who he is. My reflection didn't look scared, which I'm sure that is how I look like right now. My reflection then looked up at the head who is definitely a significant height taller than me to be able to bent forward without a snake neck, and kissed the man.

Urgh! Ewwww! Saliva, me! Hello? Haven't we talked about this?

But who is this man in the mirror? I can't see his face, neither can I tell who he is based on the clothes that, seemed to be so generic that it is a shirt and pants. Is he the guy from work that I wanted to be with a few months ago? I don't think so.

Or is it just, a generic person? So the mirror showed, like in many fairytales, what I want the most?

So this is what I would be like, if I had a boyfriend or husband. I'll be abandoning the whole concept of saliva exchanging, and body smell. Honestly I don't even know if that is really her, since she's smiling so happily. I don't think I ever was that happy with my cutest polar bear plush, or a rare merchandise I got off the internet, or even a plate of the most delicious fried chicken in the entire universe.

The mirror then warped slightly, and the man was gone. My reflection appeared to smile and kiss him goodbye, as though like he's going to work. Oh that's what it meant, that he's going to work hence the shirt and pants. Wait. So I'm a stay at home trophy wife?! I definitely didn't want that! Or perhaps I'm just home at a freelance job. Okay that doesn't sound that bad.

My reflection then turned to face me, and my own expression came into view. As though the mirror knew when to stop creeping me out. Which is odd. Then suddenly there was another reflection behind me standing amongst the shelves. It was the german prince sketch and bust, dressed in his princey best. I whipped around, but there was no one. Was it a ghost? Surely that reflection was not for me, but for the prince, so is a ghost standing behind me?!

I looked back again, and the prince is still there. I side stepped a little to see what is going on, but there really isn't anyone in the back. So what am I supposed to do? The prince seemed to be looking at me.

"hi." I said, waving my hand a little. The reflection waved back, with a bright smile and sigh of relief. "I don't know who you are, I mean I know you are the prince. But, I don't know where you are in this place. Are you a ghost?"

The prince shook his head.

"so you're alive." he nodded. "and you can understand english."

He seemed confused.

"never mind." I waved it off. "can you tell me, what happened?"

Then he pointed to the mirror and nodded. I looked behind me again, there's no one. I walked forward to the mirror and touched the wobbly surface again. It seemed to let my hand pass through. Does this mean, he wants me to enter the mirror?

Not with a million dollars no. I retracted my hand and frowned. I looked at the prince, and he seemed disappointed, then for a moment he was distracted with what's on the right side and then his reflection disappeared.

"alex!" dad's voice came.

"dad I'm in the potions room!" I shouted. I looked around again, and there was no prince, no ghost, nothing. Dad's figure then appeared.

"why did you run off like that?" he asked as he entered. I pointed to the mirror. "what's this?"

"it's a mirror that tells you what you want the most." I said. Dad seemed skeptical, and I stepped away for him to see.

"I'm seeing only me. And, oh there's your mother, and ohhhhh that's you! Little babygirl you!"

"don't call me that." I felt a wave of nausea hit me.

"and oh there's dr loughlin, and me." dad said excitedly. What? What?

"why would you want dr. loughlin?" I asked, even more disgusted.

"no I don't think I want, but, he's there." dad pointed. I looked behind him, there was no one, and I peered into the mirror, and there he is.

"wait, I see him too." I said. "and I saw the prince just now."

"what prince?"

"the prince who was supposed to wed. prince… gerard? German?"

"prince gerald." dad corrected.

"yes, that's the guy in your sketch, and I took a bust of his head and I found him in the family tree in the library." I said. "I saw him here, I asked him what happened and he appears to understand english, and he was going to show me, by pointing at the mirror and the mirror wobbled until you called my name and he disappeared."

"alex are you sure you are okay? Did you eat anything while you are here? Mushrooms? Unidentified food?" dad looked at me with concern.

"dad I'm fine! And considering I'm a skeptic you will know that what I'm saying take a huge load of effort to convince me in the first place!" I yelled and I looked again. Dr loughlin is still there. "ask him."

"wha- I'm not going to ask an image in a mirror-" dad began and I saw dr loughlin leap to the side and disappeared. I turned around to see the snake again.

"dad! The snake the snake!" I shouted and reached for my belt, to find my sword missing. Then I looked to where it leaped and saw the frog hopped to safety. Dad had side stepped to where I am. "dad it's attacking the frog again. And I don't think the frog is food."

"alex if it's attacking we need to get out." dad pulled me towards the door. Finally, some sense out of this man. I leaped outside and closed the door behind me. "that is indeed an orlov's viper. The most venomous snake in existence."

"and that's the same snake that was chasing after me, aren't you proud I outran a snake now?" I said as I made sure the door was secure before making our way back.

"isn't it strange that we brought a taxidermy orlov's viper here and we find a live one here?" dad began to say.

"or in a mad twist, like the one we seem to be in, the snake you brought is the same viper as the one in there, it came to life when brought back into the castle." I said sarcastically. "dad."

I stopped, as we climbed the stone steps.

"I saw the prince, and you saw dr. loughlin. And dr loughlin leaped to the side and we saw the frog leaped to the side too, so the frog is dr. loughlin?" I said.

"and in the story, the prince was turned into a frog, and so you're saying…" dad began to piece together the story.

"the frog is dr. loughlin which is the prince?" I asked. "but dr loughlin looked nothing like the prince. At least I don't think they looked alike."

"there must be something we are missing." dad said. "also why would the snake be attacking dr. loughlin if that's the case?"

We climbed further to reach the kitchen, where dad's smoked fish is ready. Thankfully for cutlery, because holding a fish and trying not to eat its bones is one of my biggest challenge, considering the lack of medical facilities within reach should I run into a choke-on-fish-bone incident.

Dad has gone on to mumbling to himself about the mystery we have put together, as he chewed on the fish. I drank my water, and decided to put this mystery to rest for now.

"dad I want to go to bed." I said as we finished our dinner.

"that's probably a good idea. It has been a long day." he said. We headed back to the library, not without time check with the basement. It has been four days. Four, psychotic days.

I decided to find two points on the shelves so I can hang my hammock. Suffice to say, I'm missing my bears a lot. Not to mention the food and snacks I have stashed in my room. I certainly don't miss my job. Or my friend, oddly enough. I climbed into the hammock and turned to sleep.


	19. Chapter 19 - Trait

With the fact that the snake could be looming outside, I had a pretty restless sleep. But then again, I kind of get the impression that if it was attacking the frog, which, could be dr loughlin for some laughable reason, then perhaps we are safe.

I don't know what time dad slept, but I did drift in and out of sleep. Strangely I had a series of weird dreams, that seem to have no connection with one or the other. One involved me kissing that weird guy in the reflection of the mirror from snow white, eww. The other one then was about me going into the lake and walking on water like jesus, and then there was one where I was crossing a river and I clubbed a snake to death. The last one was particularly comforting, because in the dream, I had some form of a mental practice for which time comes that I need to club a snake.

I woke up to dad's snoring. Somehow the thought of a snake roaming outside makes no difference to his sleep state. I needed to pee. And most of during the day, I had just peed in the bushes or nearby. I mean. Who is watching? Other than the frog on the first day, which now that I think about it is Dr. Loughlin oh my goodness what the damn hell that pervert! Maybe I should be clubbing the frog and not the snake. Maybe the snake is my good friend for knowing it's a pervert who is spying on us.

Either way, I need to find a lavatory, because I haven't answered nature's calling and I need to. If not I'll be cranky. I thought of waking my dad up, but maybe that is not the best idea.

I took my phone and went to the basement. Since the sun is perpetually outside, I couldn't even tell what time it is unless I go downstairs. It is now 6am. Normally I would be contented to go back to sleep, but in light of recent events, I might as well not. And since I'm going down, I might as well take a bath. I rounded back to the library and took some bath supplies and went downstairs. I'm not one to get sentimental, but if I do make it home, I will hug my toilet bowl, and this time not because of a hangover.

I've seen in pictures and old castle shows, to find a lavatory, is to find somewhere with a wooden board with a hole cut out. I shone my torch against all the different rooms near the bathroom. No sign of a hole board. I have two choices, either go outside, near the river, or down deeper, to where the fishing river is. Almost on the verge of giving up, I chanced upon this smaller chamber, with gaping holes in the wall after a ledge. I looked out side and down the holes, it seemed to be a grass filled pit. Is this the toilet? Is this where people sat, and pooped out into the pit? It seemed private. And, well maintained… so …. Never mind, I'll do it here.

Emptying my entire supply of water from my bottle, I cleaned myself, shuddered, and headed back to the bathroom for a wash. I had brought my axe along, just in case. As I sat in the water, I wondered to myself, where does this leave me?

In some way, my life has been nothing short of mundane. I have people who come and go, most of them call me when they need me, or it's someone's birthday soon. As the beauty and the beast song says, she wants an adventure in the great wide, somewhere. Well so do I, except I really shrink away from every chance of it, until now. I don't think it's that bad to be honest, unless you count the fact that we are trapped in a time freeze castle, with a very ill-thought out food supply issue. Oh and the most venomous snake roaming this castle. Humans are so hard to navigate. I never know where to stop, or where to start. Already I am a pain to navigate on a daily basis, let alone others. It is a trait of mine.

The water feels amazing. Frankly, I would like to have a bathroom like that. Don't get me started on money.

I decided to get out and dry myself. Surely this is a long day, perhaps trying to find all the pieces of the puzzle ball and finding out the truth. I headed back to the library after clothing myself, feeling my clothes a lot looser. Hmm… have I lost weight?

Dad is still snoring, so I packed my stuff a little and took a sandwich that is perfectly preserved in this time freeze. I'll start today with the piece at the lake. Surely that would be the easiest as opposed to roaming the place unknowingly trying to find other pieces.

I ate, and watch as dad's sleeping form snort and turn around. How does mum tolerate that. At one point dad's arm actually flops over to hit one of the books. I would have woken up and slap whoever is next to me if they did that. Eventually he did wake up, having snored himself awake, another thing I cannot stand.

"alex?" dad mumbled.

"it's after 6am if you are wondering." I said, finishing up my sandwich.

"you're up early!" dad mused as he rubbed his face.

"couldn't sleep. Dreamt killed snake." I took a swig of water from his bottle. "get up, get cracking, and I'll be at the lake. Trying to get the piece out of the water."

I got up, and not waiting for dad. I'm not a morning person, and I certainly am not the kind to say good morning, pleasant morning, and whatever poetic way of telling time. I took some candy with me, hopefully they'll keep me going. I strapped on the belt with the sword, took the axe and club, and I walked to the lake, taking note of any sound, keeping an eye out for anything that could be a floatation device. I went back into the workshop, hoping to find something. I did find a animal skin but that serves no purpose.

I guess, I just have to brace it. It's not like I can't swim.

I walked out to the lake, and used the glass piece for my bearings. I see the glow, and I see the lake surface. Testing my footing, I pressed down on the water. Yesterday the frog could walk on water, so can I step on it. Today, the magic is gone. My shoe almost went through and I would be angry, if that had made my shoe wet. Someone needs to tell me how to get that thing out of the water now.

Fortunately, the stupid frog is back.

"so you're dr. loughlin?" I asked. Ribbit, was its answer. "did you also looked at me while I went to the toilet?"

Ribbit. Fine.

"how do I get that thing? You could walk on water, I can't now. What did you do yesterday?" I asked. The frog then hopped onto the water. "so you are the magic person now. Only you can make the water solid to walk on."

The frog hopped further, and I tested my footing again. It is now back to the spongey carpet.

I'm presented with a very hypothetical situation now. So if I can walk on water, means to say I can't reach down to grab whatever that is inside the water. If the frog jumps away then I'll sink. And if it jumps back, does it mean it traps me underwater? I'm not entirely happy about this. Let me, have more information.

I began to make my way around the lake, keeping my bearings in check with the direction of the glow. I entered some trees, and walked around, I began to look at the glowing spot, it is actually not that far away from the bank. Probably I could reach out to take it then. I walked further in, cracking some of the branches in the process. I neared the bank, and saw the glowing spot pretty near, though I do have to wade in to get it. Or, I could do the douchey thing and use the long sword to scrape it over without getting wet. Improvise.

I took out the sword, and held the other quartz to my eye to get the right spot to began scraping. Eventually I began to hit something and pull it towards me. In the mess of the water, I could only make out it is a rock, but as I pulled it up and picked it up, I could see it was only a layer of moss. I walked to the other edge of the water, away from trees, and began washing the stone.

Bingo, it is another piece of the quartz. Funny enough, we don't know how many pieces are there and yet we are here working on it. Frog loughlin is nowhere to be found. Good, because I have nothing nice to say to it.

I held both pieces to my eyes and looked at the castle. At first I don't see much, but slowly as I entered the shadows, I could see faint areas of glowing. I then followed them back to the castle.

I'm having a hard time, piecing together a story. There's a frog, and a snake. And a prince, and a time orb. I climbed the stairs, as I checked the compound, some pieces were upstairs. I climbed higher till I reached the level where I first discovered the cabinet room. Perhaps there is a piece in there.

I opened the door, holding the piece up to my eye and scanned the room. Nothing makes sense honestly, because if it was shattered up out in the air, why would it land into a room. Unless someone placed it here, or the orb has magic abilities to teleport itself.

The glow seemed to be coming from further in other rooms. So I followed, eventually I reached the bedroom instead. And right there, near the window, was a glowing piece. I walked over to see it under the table next to the window. I walked over to the bed and sighed. The bed… the comfy bed. Maybe I should sleep here tonight.

Just then I saw the covers wriggle. Crap. Is it the snake? That's the only thing that moves around here. I didn't think and I left the room quickly. Movements equals no. I headed down to find dad. I have four pieces now. Dad has one. So that means five.

I hopped down the ledge and called out to dad.

"in the library."

So you have not left. I walked inside and saw him pouring over the family tree.

"alex. I've found the family history here." dad said as he pulled out scrolls and documents from the shelf I took the chart from. "our story as we were told was true, the last line of the family lies with Prince Gerald Engelhardt. The Salzwald family, is a powerful noble family from the neighbouring kingdom, who holds major trading rights with Edelwan, and their daughter marrying over is the key to their political stand.

"so what?" I asked.

"the prince, is said to have taken a liking to the duchess, and is set to wed." dad concluded. "but why didn't the wedding happen? Could it be the time freeze?"

"what about, the Salzwald wanted the orb for themselves, marry their daughter as a smokescreen, then come to steal the orb, had a fight, threw the orb off the tower and trapping everyone in a time freeze and dimension?" I asked.

"likely possibility yes." dad continued. Then I rolled the four pieces to dad on the table.

"I have four, plus yours, five." I said. Dad took out his piece and began to examine, while I tried to fit them together. "look. It does."

I had an oddly formed shape of a ball. Dad took the crumbling pieces and held it in his hands.

"by the looks of it, we are missing about three pieces." dad concluded.

"so are you going to help me find?" I asked.

"yes, just a minute." dad said as he opened the journals again. "it says here, prince gerald, is known to be adventurous, kind and very handsome."

"judging from the mirror yesterday I'll say he is." I concluded.

"and he has many adventures outside, traveling far and wide with his assistant Henry." dad said and looked up. "the original stories of the Princess and the Frog, has an alternative title called "the iron henry", it was said the prince had a very loyal servant who, upon the prince transforming into a frog was heart broken that he had three iron bands on his heart to prevent it from breaking."

"fascinating." I answered solemnly. "so henry, was bribed to steal the orb."

"we don't know that." dad cut me off. "we don't know, until we find the pieces."

"or we could go into the mirror." I said.

"alex." dad warned. "in many cultures, the mirror is said to be the passageway to different dimensions, and staring at a mirror who shows you want you want, is not going to help us."

I pocketed the pieces into the leather bag I had and got up. The sooner we find the remaining pieces, the sooner we can go home. Dad followed me and we headed outside. I took a piece to look again, and this time I couldn't find any glowing spots. I handed one to dad and he couldn't either. Then, very faintly, we heard a clank.

"what was that?" I asked. Looking ahead to the basement.

"it sounded like it came from down there." dad said, already taking steps forward. I had my axe at the ready and we went downstairs. There were slightly more clanks and we hurried over, to the potions room.

"do you think the frog and snake are fighting?" I asked. Dad thought about it.

"if they are, then, maybe we don't have to go in." dad said. I looked through the quartz and saw a giant glowing spot inside.

"well, too bad we do. Because the pieces are inside, or at least one big is." I said. Dad checked and was taken aback.

"alright. Be careful, and," he grabbed the axe from me. I tutted him and drew my club. Dad slowly then pushed open the door. Sure enough, we see the snake poised at a bench, having knocked over glasses of vials, and is now staring up the cabinet where frog loughlin is.

The frog saw us and attempted to leap towards what seemed like safety, and the snake followed. Dad quickly instinctively shut the door, and another round of hissing and clanking ensued. Then there was no more sound.

"should we even go in?" I asked. Dad inched the door slightly and I backed away. There was suddenly no sign of the frog and the snake. "maybe they ceased fire?"

I held up my quartz again, and looked.

"dad." I said. "the mirror theory, looks like we do have to enter."

Dad raised his to look, and the mirror is glowing, so brightly.

"alright." dad said, as he made a movement to the mirror.

"dad I'm coming." I said.

"no alex, you stay here. It might be too dangerous."

"and what? Continue to be stuck here? I'm coming." I said and pushed him aside. "in fact, I think I should go instead, and if I can't come back, at least you know how to figure things out and get me out."

"what? No!" dad protested. "alright let's go together."

I grabbed dad's arm, and poked at the mirror's wobbly surface with my club.

"alright dad. Let's go." I said as I pushed the club forward, watch it disappear, and took a deep breath.


	20. Chapter 20 - Urgency

The other side of the mirror, I'm sure it is as real as this one is. Except because I'm not a physicist, it escapes my comprehension that multiple dimensions can exist at the same time, with different time lines and the universe will not implode.

Dad and I stepped out into what could be a very active potions room, with scholars in robes and middle age clothes holding up vials and doing lab things like we do. Except without the lab coats and the goggles that were meant to be protective.

Nobody seem to be paying attention to us, as though, we don't exist.

"dad." I said and dad waved his arm at the person in front of us, and his arm went right through. "that was creepy, but not that bad."

"we're, in some kind of an alternative reality." dad said. "this must be what they are doing when the castle is still active. See, alex they are making elixirs and medicinal research!"

"yes as we've established." I said and pulled at his arm. "we need to go outside to see what's going on."

It is like prying a kid from a candy store all over again. I looked back to see the mirror is still there. Good. We need a way back out.

We went back up the familiar corridors and steps, except we passed many people, all bustling around the castle doing castle life things. Then we emerged to the same sun, shining. Up the tallest tower, there was a glow, the orb is still intact. Everywhere around us, people are busy, with some form of preparation.

"preparations for a wedding." dad said. "look at that garment, it's in purple, a color for royalty."

And in the midst of bustling, suddenly everything stopped. There were gasps, and shouts of something urgent in a language I don't understand.

"something is happening." dad said, looking to the direction of the voice.

"yes dad, that is obvious. But what? What are they saying?" I asked.

"something about, the prince," dad listened amongst the gasps and screams. And everyone looked up. "the prince is in danger?"

I turned to see the tower, and the glow had begun to move.

"dad!" I pointed. We rushed out to the courtyard to see the glow moving, like we predicted. "a fight is happening up there, the orb is being stolen and stopped."

"someone is going to fall." dad said. "watch it closely alex, this is a replay of what happened on that faithful day, and it might help us piece together what's going on, and find an answer.

Needless to say, my eyes are trained up there, poised for action. Armed soldiers were running up some steps, and people were pointing and shouting. I held onto dad's arm so tight, but he didn't even notice.

Sure enough, we saw two people, locked in a fight being flung out of the tower, and the glowing orb, flying further. I didn't know which one to look at, the two people who fell, or the orb waiting to shatter.

The orb flew even further, and hit the turret, just as we suspected and immediately exploded, the action around us froze immediately, and there was a very bright light, blinding us that I shielded my eyes, and pulled dad away to cover in case this idiot insist on watching the action. And all of a sudden, the light was gone, as though a black hole opened and sucked everyone in, including the two who were in midair. And with a last bang, everyone and everything disappeared.

"dad." I turned over to pull him up. He was looking around frantically. But before we could even react, a force began to pull us, through the walls and ground, down to the basement. I turned to scream and grab dad, but I couldn't and he was tumbling in the air like a tumbleweed.

Desperate, I turned to look where we are heading. But it was too fast, I could only get ready to shield my head from the immediate wall that I saw, before I was flung into a series of things that looked like benches, and then finally hitting what looked like a bookcase and dozens of leather journals falling to break my F1 racecar of a butt.

Then I hear another series of screams, coming from dad, in the mirror as he shot out of the wobbly surface and straight into me. Thank goodness, I have fats. Else I would have broken bones and possibly flatten like a tomato against the wall.

"dad get up!" I said as I pushed him off. And in my hands, I realise, I was holding a quartz. "dad get up! Look!"

He was still trying to get his bearings as I hastily pulled him up. I took out all the ones I had and counted. Sure, we have 6 pieces. Now two more.

"so we were right." dad said as he put his piece to his eye to look at the mirror. "the fight was between two men, and the orb shattered, taking everything into a different dimension where they are trapped."

"so where are the rest of the two pieces?" I asked. "if we find all of them, put them together, maybe we can reverse that black hole."

"you're right." dad said as he looked around. "I believe it was the prince up there, with another man."

"it was to be his wedding day, or the day before perhaps?" I asked.

"yes, someone clearly didn't want the wedding to happen, and thought to steal the orb to stop them." he said.

"but why the orb?" I asked. "maybe it's not to stop the wedding, but to use the orb to reverse time? To a time where something has yet happen, thereby stopping the wedding from even existing?"

"good job alex." dad said as he examined the room again. Then he went to the mirror. It no longer has the wobbly surface.

"wait." I said as I crossed over to touch it. "when I was at the lake, the surface was just like that too."

"so the effect of one of these, can alter reality and its properties…" dad formulated.

"dad, where does the frog and the prince fit into this?" I asked as I gathered the pieces. I pulled him away to get outside.

"I don't know alex." dad said. As we turned the corner out and up, I heard a hissing noise behind. I turned to see the snake right at the ledge where the entrance of the basement is.

"dad it's back!" I drew my club and pointed. Dad spun around to see the snake, and he quickly pulled me back. The snake was ready to attack, as its head is drawn back. And the moment I was behind dad, I knew why. "dad the frog is on your back!"

I swung my club, hitting the frog as it hopped away. The snake changed directions and darted forward to attack the frog.

"wait no!" dad yelled and grabbed my club, swinging it at the snake. I watched as the club smacked the snake right in the tummy, and the club left his hands and both tumbled away and hit a pillar to our right.

"oh my god!" I clasped my hand over my mouth. Dad was equally shocked as he stood, rooted to the ground as we see the snake and club fall onto the floor. And in the midst of it, we heard a distinct crack. Something broke.

I turned to dad, who then turned to the frog. It began hopping towards the motionless snake. I scrambled forward, albeit carefully.

"dad you killed the snake…" I said softly.

"I didn't mean to!" dad walked over and reached out, I grabbed his hand. "but…"

Then, suddenly we began to glow. At least, my bag, and dad's hand, along with the snake and frog began to glow.


	21. Chapter 21 - Day

Any other day, I would have freaked out. But not today, apparently. Somehow my brain was wired to figure things out more accurately and acutely, than any other day that it would serve its purpose, like, getting my work done.

"Dad." I said wearily and stepped away. "the last two pieces. They have the last two pieces!"

The frog attempted to hop away, and dad blocked it immediately. I threw out all my pieces, and dad did as well, and we watch them all glow very bright, almost as bright as that mirror dimension scene where it first explode.

The frog and snake began to rise and somehow the pieces in them began to dissolve out of their bodies. The fragments then magically, in the bright blinding glow, came together to form the orb. The cracks between the pieces blended together and disappeared. The orb then glow a bright yellow, much like the one we saw before, and just when we thought all was well, the glow faded and fell.

Dad and I jumped forward to catch it, only to smash head on with each other. In the tangle of cries and painful yells, we managed to stop the orb from once again smashing onto the ground with our fingers.

"why is it not working?" dad asked as he examined the orb, then back at the two animals, one unconscious, one half dying from the impact.

From a deep urge, or woman's instinct as people call it, I somehow knew what I should do. I plucked the orb from his hands and looked up at the tower.

"we have to return it to the top!" I said hurriedly. "I'm not touching the two."

Finally with a disgusted look on my dad's face when it comes to animals with the potential to kill, he reluctantly picked up the two and we began climbing up the stairs for the tower.

"be careful alex!" dad said behind me.

"you be careful. The snake might wake up and start biting because you were the one who clubbed it." I shouted back as I tried hard to keep running. Gravity, is a heartless bitch, a relentless law. And for someone with a low center of gravity, climbing high and fast, is almost next to impossible. "damn these stairs."

I leaned against the wall for a breath, before pushing on. It took us quite a while to reach the hidden door, and we climbed even higher in the acrid air to the trapdoor.

"we made it!" dad exclaimed as he put the animals on the floor and took my orb. Thankfully, because I was about to faint from the height and that my legs have done its best. "this is it alex."

Dad stood at the altar, and gently lowered the orb. Not before something slammed against his face, making him scream like a little girl, and dropping the orb again. I threw myself forward, involuntarily as my boobs, my boobs, made impact on the floor as my outstretched arms served as a cushion for the falling orb. If I need plastic surgery after this, I will, murder someone.

"argh!" I cried out in pain as I cringed. This is one of the times I'm glad to be layered, and I have a sturdy bra that made it less wobbly. "what the hell dad!"

I looked up to see him bat the frog onto the ground, and now the frog is looking at me.

"he doesn't want us to put the orb on the altar dad!" I said as I scrambled up, holding the orb high. "where's the club!"

"I didn't bring it!" dad said as he came over.

"alright, time's up." I thrusted the orb to dad. I drew the sword that was cumbersome at my waist and tossed the belt aside. "come closer, and I'll cut you. I don't care if you are magic, or dr loughlin that pervert who watched me poop in the forest, I will stab you."

"I thought the frog is the prince?" dad turned to me.

"I don't know dad, and I don't care." I yelled. "we put the orb back, restore this place, so we can get home."

"right." dad was determined, and he stepped behind me. I held the sword with both hands. I darted forward and jabbed the tip of the sword at the frog, who hopped away. Then I jabbed again, making it jump.

"dad now!" I yelled as I kept jabbing. Dad plonked the orb onto the altar. Nothing happened.

"why isn't it glowing?" dad cried. I looked over and the orb is there, just an ordinary yellow ball. I turned back to the frog, who has stopped hopping and is looking at the orb now. "this doesn't make any sense."

I went over to the orb, turning it on the altar.

"Dad look." I pointed. "one side is darker than the rest."

"yes, but why…?" dad mumbled as he turned the orb around. It was as though one piece of the orb isn't the same color as the rest, like it had decayed.

I looked at the frog, then at the snake.

"dad." I began. "this is absurd, but, could the piece be linked to the snake being almost dead?"

Dad looked horrified.

"because it was in the snake for a long time, that the orb is somehow linked to the life of the snake?" dad reasoned.

"but it was taxidermized before wouldn't it be already dead?" I asked.

"then it was brought back here, which gave it back it's life, but it is here that it is almost dead." dad began to talk louder, and started yelling, as he clasped his face in sheer horror.

I made a movement to the snake, but the frog hopped in front of me.

"oh get out of the way!" I jabbed the sword at it and it hopped further back. "get lost!"

I swung the sword, this time pushing it to the left. I looked at the snake, its eyes rolling and focusing. Something just isn't right. But something, suddenly made sense.

"dad." I began. "what if, the frog isn't the prince…"

I turned to him, suddenly it began to make sense. The prince's place setting, the bed wriggling, the cabinet room, the way it always attacked the frog, why was it his reflection in the mirror.

Before I could even talk, the frog spattered onto my face.

"eww get off!" I slapped it away and attempted to stab it.

"alex no!" dad rushed over to grab my hand. "if we hurt it, we lose the piece in the orb!"

"urgh!" I cried as I dropped the sword unwillingly. "we have to save the snake, and this idiot, isn't letting us. Why wouldn't you let us save the snake? You brought us here, you made us fix the orb!"

"unless, if the time and space is restored, there is a consequence…?" dad mumbled again. The frog croaked its signature ribbit, as though telling us yes. "so if the time is restored, this place will age, and everything will crumble."

"but we don't belong here dad, it doesn't affect us, just like in the mirror." I protested. "I know why, he's not the prince, the snake is the prince. You must be someone who betrayed him, you wanted to steal the orb, and was stopped by the prince where you both hurled yourselves off the tower and shattered the time orb."

"that's why the snake is always attacking the frog, because the snake is the prince, he knew who was responsible and killed everyone else!" dad began to echo my point of view. "and if the time is restored, he'll have to face some dire consequence."

"what consequence? He'll just age like everything this place is and turn to dust." I retorted.


	22. Chapter 22 - Horror

"dad we don't have much time!" I pointed at the orb. "the piece is decaying and turning darker, the snake is dying. The prince, is dying!"

"but how do we save the snake?" Dad began to grab his hair. "is there, is there a book somewhere, do we have... i'm not a vet!"

I'm panicking. Mostly because of the hope of getting out here seemed bleak, and i know when i panic, i don't do well in thinking. I looked around, desperate for help. Why is the frog just standing there, why did he need the prince to die? Why would he bring us here to fix the orb only to not let us finish the job? What if it's just trapping us here? What good will it do if we are stuck here for all eternity?

Unless, it knows something we don't. Something that was set hundreds of years ago? What's the missing piece of the puzzle? It's driving me insane!

"oh this is bad, bad, bad!" Dad began to panic, now I'm even more flustered. I can't even save myself, let alone, saving an animal, and of all things, a snake. A venomous snake. That is on the brink of death. A snake that used to be a prince.

Then, it hit me. Of all the fairy tales, the absurdity, the relentless falsified truth that cannot be further away. That happily ever after.

I know what i must do. I have to, for at least, a chance to go home.

I ran ahead, watching the frog make an attempt to hop at me. I swat it away, and threw myself onto the floor next to the snake.

Bracing myself, and scrunching my face in disgust, i leaned forward and paste my lips onto its head.

I was sure dad didn't say anything, but gasped in horror.

"alex!" Dad yelled, grabbing at his hair tighter. He then turned to the orb. "it's working! The orb is getting lighter!"

"i know who i am, or who i used to be." I said to the snake, its eyes rolled slightly. "i was to be married to you, and knowing me, i would have. I would not have broken my promise, if i really am, who you think i am, hundreds of years ago."

"alex what are you talking about?" Dad scrunched his face hard, i thought they were going to be permanent etches on his face.

"i was the dutchess of Salzwedel, back in whatever year this is." I said. "dad you said the wedding didn't happen, because everyone disappeared. I don't think so."

"what do you mean?" Dad asked. I bent forward to pick up the snake, slightly less terrified of touching something that can kill me. It felt slimy, but warm, something I did not expect from a cold blooded animal. The snake raised it head slightly.

"it was him." I stared at the frog. "that's henry dad. The supposedly loyal servant."

"henry? The one who had the iron bands on his heart?" Dad turned to look.

"he didn't want the wedding to happen, so he broke the wedding, by whatever reason he told the dutchess and the prince." I said. "then the prince was sad and angry, but henry wanted more. And he and a confrontation with the prince up here, which led to the fight and shatter of the time orb, transporting everyone away. That's why the kingdom froze and disappeared dad."

"then, how did he know it was you?" Dad asked.

"I don't know, but he knew, and he knew you would find the viper and bring it back." I said, holding the snake closer, feeling it move a little. "he needed us back, to do what we have to, to fix the orb and restore the kingdom."

"then why stop us here?" Dad asked.

"let's ask him shall we?" I said, as I put the snake onto the orb.

The snake looked up at me and nudged my hand. I smoothed my hand over its head.

"I do." I whispered to it, and kissed it again. This time, the orb began to glow, engulfing the snake in gold rays. It began to coil, and turn around. I looked behind, and the frog was glowing too. I stepped back, shielding my eyes from the gradually brightening of the place. The ground began to shake, and the orb began to rumble on the altar.

In a loud bang, the entire tower was bathed in a spacial bend, and the world around us began spinning, as though we are travelling. I lost my footing and fell to the floor, with dad at my side as we held onto the ground for support.

And before I know, everything froze again. The sky was bright, exactly the same time as the place has been frozen in. But the floor was covered in moss and dirt, and vines were crawling all over.

"dad." I began as we stood up, the floor beneath us crumbling slightly. The orb has gone.


	23. Chapter 23 - Adjust

"What? What's going on?" dad looked around, as his feet slid on the moss and algae.

"I think we restored the time to this place dad." I said as I looked out. The tower is still in tact, but the castle, is now in debilitation. The snake, the frog, and the orb are all gone. "dad…"

"but. But what happened?" dad pulled my arm. "do you know something?"

"all I know I said it earlier." I answered. "why the frog knows, and why he's stopping us, I don't know. And they are gone. I can't even feel anything, like, we're breathing the same air as we first came."

"there's so many questions! So many unanswered!" dad looked around frantically, as though he lost something dear. I took out my phone, and realise, we have reception. And it has been five days. Five, unfathomable days.

"dad." I said as I turned to him, I can see his mind, desperate for a connection between the stray ends of each of the unanswered questions and illogic around here. "dad let's go down."

"but, what's is happening alex!" dad is loosing it.

"dad it doesn't matter." I said and I grabbed his arm, to get his attention. "dad you found it, you found something that nobody in centuries could find. It's here, and you can come back to study it. Yes we have a lot of questions but that's part of your job as an anthropologist dad. You need to research and study this place, bring people along. But the thing is you found it."

It took dad maybe a minute, the longest minute of staring at him, for him to realise.

"yes alex… we did find it. We found the castle!" dad started shouting. "WE FOUND IT!"

He began to hug me and jumped. All was well, until we heard a crack.

"okay, not the best idea." dad stopped. "but alex there's so many things I don't understand!"

"I don't either. But, it just hit me, that the snake never tries to attack me, he's always attacking the frog. And when he saw me, he just wanted to talk, but I didn't understand german. He chased me because I said "spreken ze englis"." I said. "he sat at his placemat at the dining table, he slept in his own bed. He was the prince."

"then how did you know you are the duchess from the past?" dad ask.

"I don't, it was just a hunch." I kicked the ground. "in the story, the princess broke a promise she made, there was a kiss. I just went for it."

"alex, honestly." dad put a hand on my shoulder and pulled me for a hug. "if you hate your job, don't do it anymore. Come with me, I know you enjoyed yourself, even if you say you didn't. and I can really use your help."

"I'll consider it dad."

I surprised myself. Dad was equally surprised too. But this time, he let it go.

Maybe it's time for a change. A drastic change.


	24. Chapter 24 - Insistence

Dad's insistence of us getting the library packed is beginning to make me question the viability of pursuing a career in anthropology with him. The advanced aging of this place meant everything, and I meant every single, thing, has aged. The books and the charts we have taken out, are now in precarious brink of disintegration.

"alex use gloves!" dad screamed across the room as I attempted to roll the parchment.

"dad we're not going to be able to bring this back. I don't even know the route back." I protested. "can't we just pack them back, and seal this place again then mark the landmark with gps and come back with proper equipment?!"

"how am I supposed to claim I found a castle if I don't bring evidence!" dad began to squeak. Mum warned me about this. When dad gets excited and flustered, and overly stressed, he turns into a mouse.

"then pack the ones that won't crumble at the slightest touch dad!" I shouted back. This is not helping. Seriously reconsidering my options. At least, at my desk, surrounded by polar bears, I'm not shouting, if I can help it.

I decided to wait for him to turn the other way, before rolling the parchment together, with bare hands. The other people can figure out how to restore this. This is not my problem.

"alex, where's the sword? Let's bring the sword back." dad squeaked. "oh I should get shots of the castle!"

He ran out with his phone. There's a high chance that, we have to stay the night, seeing how dad will definitely take photos till the day is over and it's back to the dark. If we do stay here at least I have shelter.

I decided to also get the sword. It's a nice thing to have. The craftsmanship is impeccable, because despite the advance aging, there's only slight tarnish. I decided to pack the bust of the prince's head.

"this is ridiculous." dad suddenly burst in, he strode straight to his bag. "I should just call the team in! so I don't have to go out!"

"you're not serious about staying here?" I asked seriously.

"well, maybe to the nearest town for supplies, but, yes, I want to stay here, there's plenty of work to be done!" dad squeaked.

"dad I need to go home first. I still have a job." I stared with my eyes as wide as possible.

"well we can, I mean. But I need a team here first." dad squealed. I snatched the phone out of his hand.

"you mark the spot on gps. Send a message to the authorities of this place so they can come get us. Not your team in wherever it is!" I yelled. That seemed to have done the job. Because dad stopped and considered my options. Slowly he took the phone back, and began to dial something, and the rest of the conversation happened in german. Of which I understood nothing.

I unpacked my last sandwich and ate, surprised that it is still very well preserved. I need to hug something. That I know for sure. It was a lengthy conversation, of which dad hung up and called someone else in the middle. Eventually, after finishing the entire sandwich, dad was done.

"so. I've called the police and rescue team."

"how did you even know a rescue team's number?" I frowned.

"the police called them." dad said simply. "they have alerted the local land authorities, and they are sending a team of surveyors and transport to our location."

"do they have to pass through the log?" I mused as I pulled up my bag. "we should wait outside for them. Also because this place belongs to germany, and would be a historical landmark, you're not supposed to take anything out."

"and you doubt why you shouldn't be an anthropologist!" dad challenged. I merely stared. It's best not to talk anymore, and also I didn't tell him I took the bust.

As we walked, dad began to take pictures, and have commandeered mine to video the vicinity. I walked alongside him, trying to avoid every camera view that comes my way. The path and doors are now aged, horribly rusted in some places, and more walls have crumbled. We made our way up the walk way to where the stone crumble is, only to find it even more slippery now that grass has grown from this place. I rustled around the grass patches to find the carts I've put here, as well as the wagon has aged even more horribly.

But as ugly as it looks, they still worked. I put my bag on top of it, refilled my bottle with river water, and began to wheel myself away. Dad insist on walking, to take a video and pictures of the ancient city.

In the midst of the silence, I hear a faint sound. Something that, after five days of silence, was a welcome. A siren. I didn't care what siren it was, but I know other humans are near. I wheeled myself towards the entrance of the city. The siren was getting louder. But in that instance, I felt the need to run away. I'm not good at explaining, especially in a foreign language. I need dad for that. I turned to find him no where to be found.


	25. Chapter 25 - Fish

Before I could react, the siren sound blared, this time, overhead. They sent a helicopter? I could hear someone trying to shout over the rotors. Again in german, I can't understand a single thing. Ahead, I saw dad running towards me, and in an almost comical way, trips over something and splat on the ground, phones flying around. Standing in the middle of nowhere, with someone shouting above me and my ears blasted, I could only take a deep breath, and hope to hell that my phone is still okay.

Dad, will not be okay.

I walked towards him as he scrambled up, and felt for the phones. I snatched mine out of his hands and stopped the recording. The phone is now incredibly hot. I believe eggs were meant to be cooked at this temperature. I pocketed mine and pointed at the chopper. It seemed like he's only noticing the chopper now, and began to wave.

The chopper then said something else, it could be noise it could be anything I don't understand. Then it began to fly towards a plot of field up ahead to land. Dad grabbed my hand and his phone, and ran for the chopper. Someone came down, and shouted something in german over the noise. He grabbed my dad's hand in a handshake that I pray he wouldn't do to me because it looked like it would hurt, and ushered us onto the helicopter.

I should say, my experiences with a helicopter are non-existent. Dad seemed to know his way, which made me question did he needed to fly, or was he in like a rescue situation. All I know was everything is in a language I don't know, and I was handed a pair of headphones before strapping with suffocating tightness onto the seat, and I couldn't hear much after that over the rotors and wind.

We touched down somewhere unfamiliar and people are coming over with mics and cameras. Did dad alert the media? Someone shoved something to my face and started babbling in german. Then they were violently shoved away, as the police escorted us away.

The next two hours were seemingly in a blur. We went to the police station, someone who could speak english interviewed me for my statement that involved very generic questions. I was able to navigate without resorting to mentioning frogs, time freeze, and magic orbs. Dad spent a significant amount of time in there, which resulted in some very uncomfortable and awkward strolls to the water machine to get something to drink.

The water was awful. Compared to what I had, at the castle.

Eventually we were escorted to a hotel nearby with higher security, and media people prowling around. Dad and I shared adjoining rooms, and I could hear him babbling away in excitement to mum, while I ordered room service, and pretended to watch german tv to pass time. I unpacked my bag to see if I can do some laundry, and checked my phone. No surprises, I had no new messages, or phone calls, other than mum, whom I already have talked to before dad snatched the phone out of my hand and began bombarding her with bombs of discovery.

The hotel had a good bathtub, which I decided to sleep in. I filled it with water, and put in whatever bubbles in the bottles near me and sat in there. There's plenty to answer, but strangely, I'm not even sure if I really need answers. Because whether or not i find out if the frog is indeed the perv, or if we did save the snake or something, it still doesn't change the fact that i'm back to the real world, and in a couple of days, hopefully, i'm back in my apartment and my usual life.


	26. Chapter 26 - Door

I woke up to a loud banging on the door of my room. Behind it I could hear dad's excited voice but in gibberish. Or german. Whichever. Crawling out of bed was an understatement. My bones and muscles seemed to have aged to tremendously that I do not understand the teleportation of me from my bed to the door.

"Alex what are you still doing up! My team is here! Quickly come on we are going back!" I was certain torpedos sounds softer than his voice. "Ten minutes! Quick!"

I closed the door. Slammed was more like it.

"And no going back to sleep!" He continued. I do need the bathroom, so a quick shower and a proper number two session I emerged, visually ready to confront the confusion of yesterday. And twenty minutes were gone. I went downstairs to find a very furious dad with a team of fashion-challenged people. "Ten minutes! I said ten!"

"You also said to follow the map." I pointed out and headed towards the restaurant. And my arm was torn, at least that's what it felt like. A napkin of toasts and sandwiches with a bottled juice was shoved into my hands and I was pushed towards the doors of the hotel. People around me were jabbering in alien language, so I tuned out automatically. The food, was awful. Honesty I think mrs fischbach's culinary skills were just too high level.

The ride towards the forest was filled with dad narrating what seemed like a factual account. Nothing was said about a frog, snake and time orb. I am eternally grateful for the inventor of earphones.

After what seemed like twenty songs the car stopped. I could see plenty of people, roping away areas with tape that made me wonder is this a giant crime scene. Considering an entire kingdom-worth of people was lost, I guess this is a crime scene. And mr. Froggy is probably to be blamed.

Dad is now some form of authority figure, as he blabbed away in german to groups of people and waving his arms around as though he's directing traffic. As a joke I decided to take out my phone to video it, without sound. That should help with days j need a laugh. The group of people listening to dad seem to be scattering. And dad began to gesture to another group of people. Somehow I don't understand my presence here. A non-anthropologist toast eating person.

Decidedly, I turned to the others left at the scene. Someone had brought a golf cart, and a dude was sitting in there, as though waiting. I waved at him and he nodded. So I pointed to the castle in the distance and he nodded again. I slipped into the seat next to him and he drove off. Much better. Than the wagon makeshift cart of a nonsense that I made.

At the castle there were more people, roping off places and what not. Others are trying to examine how to open the door without destroying it. Or at least i'm interpreting the dude with angry voices yelling and gesturing what looked like an explosion. Someone seemed to have noticed me, and everyone started to look my way.

More german. I should have a sign that says I don't speak german. Whatever happened to just gesturing? Eventually someone said "enter" and I assumed they needed help getting in. I was surprised dad didn't tell them.

I waved them over to "follow me" and headed towards the side again. People were following, something i'm not used to. I began to climb and make my way up the crumbled wall and excited german words were heard. At the top, someone was reorganising the troops and my presence is forgotten. That's my cue.

I slipped away, having known my way now, I made my way up to the prince's room. Perhaps that might help. I passed the throne room, and down the long courtyard.

"I see you are thoroughly familiar with this place already." A familiar voice sounded behind me. Dropping the napkin, more so because of the english, I turned.

"Mrs fischbach!" I looked around confused. "Dad must have called you!"

"He did, but I already knew." She smiled as she walked towards me. As ominous as that feels, I have a weird feeling that this is happening for a reason.

"Knew, about what really happened here." I say apprehensively.

"Walk with me Alexandria. The air here has never felt more fresh for centuries." She said as she led the way towards the garden. I followed. "So what do you think happened here?"

"Prince betrayed, wedding didn't happen, city disappeared." I said, not to be cautious, but I am genuinely confused.

"How about you tell me what you really think, Alex?" She stopped to look at a flower bed, or what was left of it, and turned to me with a smile. The kind that if you watch enough movies, will clue you into the moment where this person, completely unexpectedly, has all the answers.

"Who are you really?" I asked. "My mum's friend, seem to be too far-fetched of an idea now."

"Oh hohoho, Alex. Your mum warned me you're the astute one, while your father is the anthropologist." She laughed. "Why don't you tell me what you really think happened here, and along the way, you'll be able to guess who I am."

I surveyed her and gave a hard thought about her offer. Surely she's not going to harm me. Though this is a very odd place to get kidnapped or whisked away into another dimension.

"I assure you, I mean no harm." she continued, as though reading my mind. I gave her a meaningful smile and nodded. I mean, what else can I do at this moment? If she was going to mean harm, no amount of running away would work. "And I promise you, everything I've told you so far, and what I'll tell you next, is the absolute truth."

"You said the city's existence is something you couldn't comment on." I said. "but it does, and we're standing in it."

"Yes, because it's not my area of expertise, which is true because I'm not a geographer, neither am I a historian." she said. "I study reptiles, that, is my area of expertise."

I'm still not convinced. But what do I have to lose?

"Okay, my theory that I told dad, and from what I gathered after the whole space time thingy…" I waved my hands to gesture at nothing. "The frog is Dr. Loughlin, he's someone dad's fascinated with and my old lecturer. The prince is the snake that dad brought as a gift for you."

Mrs. Fischbach sat down on the edge of the stony flowerbed and acknowledging my narration.

"The rest here is what I think, I was, or maybe my previous life, the duchess of Salzwedel, and was supposed to wed the prince but it didn't happen because the Dr. Loughlin's past life was fighting with the prince on the day of the wedding and did a slam dunk on the orb that made everything freeze. So wedding didn't happen, city was lost, the families lost to history. Then we turned up, the pervert frog led us here and made us put everything together only to try to thwart us at the last moment. And that's all I got. Everything else I don't understand and I'm sure my dad has more questions than I do."

Mrs. Fischbach was smiling and nodding, eventually she gave me a smile and pushed herself off the stone and took my arm in a loop. Then we headed deeper into the gardens. Away from safety.

"You've got some parts of the story correct. I'm very impressed, but perhaps yes you need to know the full story." she said. We walked down a row of dead plants, it was depressing honestly. "Ah, if only you could see the beauty of this place in it's full glory."

"You say that as though you've been here when it was in full glory." I say and she gave a laugh.

"oh ho ho ho, oh yes, Alex, your mum is very right about you. Well, so is your dad." she said. "Indeed, I was here in it's full glory. They have roses all the way here."

I stopped and she turned to look at me.

"You said your husband passed away before you could move here…" I began, she continued to smile, a smile of relief. "You… the story you told, the shapeshifter…"

She gave me a very serene smile.

"Wait what?!" I released her hand and backed away as though her hand burns. Well it might be, considering the theory that's happening in my head. "It was you. You're the Duchess, but you're a shapeshifter who was saved by the prince. And you transformed into the duchess so that you can marry the prince."

"A little off there, but quite right. I am the duchess, and a shapeshifter. My family has been but it is not something that we publicize." she nodded and gave me a formal curtsy. "the prince found out who I am, but he wasn't afraid, he wanted to marry me still. It was the first time I fell so deeply in love, with someone who loved me for who I am, not what I am."

I don't know how to respond to that. I mean, yes I can give the obligatory "awww" moment but seriously, I'm just afraid I'll come off as patronizing and desperate. At this point, Mrs. Fischbach paused, as though urging me to go on predicting. I mean why can't you just tell me the whole story, and I can go back to have some lunch? Would be nice if she made me lunch with her awesome cooking, I wouldn't mind. But no. I'm standing in the sweltering heat, tummy growling and head cracking.

Fine. I'll play. For a while more.

"So someone didn't want you to get married. The guy, who played tug of war with the prince. Also what is the orb anyway?" I asked. Couldn't help myself.

"Ah, that, I shall explain." Mrs. Fischbach, or should I say the Duchess said. I wonder what's it like being a duchess. I mean the famous ones right now seem to have plenty of rules to follow. That looks incredibly prim and proper but also boring and torturous. She began to walk down the stone walkway where the phantom roses were growing. I followed behind.

"The Orb, is a power source of the city. It was said that a ray of the sun, fell from the sky onto where the tower stood." she pointed up at the crumbling tower we witness the co-op slam dunk of a century. "It's immense power led to the kingdom's formation and prosperity for many generations of kings. With great power, comes great evil. Much of the world outside covert the power and wanted to conquer Edalewen, but it's powerful army and advancement in medicine helped guard this place."

"So the snake, that tried to kill you when you were a frog." I said, and she had that very impressed nod again.

"Very good observation." she said. "and good memory."

"so the snake was another shapeshifter or, whatever it is, wanted the orb, so it attempted to kill you, take your place in the Salzwedel family to marry into Royalty." I say.

"Quite right!" she pointed enthusiastically. "the snake was actually the enchantress, who in stories, turned the prince into a frog."

At this point I think my face, was beginning to show doubt, by my signature blankness. Mrs. Fischbach laughed and came to loop my arm again. What's this thing that women do to show they are in a clan together? Are we forming a brigade? To block off other people from getting into fashion boutiques?

"so she wants the orb, tries to kill you to pass as you, only to have it completely blow up in her face." I say.

"Not how I would put it but yes, essentially." she said. "she too, fell in love with the prince, and I wouldn't blame her."

"so what is it with the prince, why is everybody falling in love with him?" I asked.

"have you?" she asked slyly.

"for a moment I was terrified if I was, I would be honest." I said almost immediately, and she burst out laughing so hard that she stopped walking. "I mean that portal mirror mirror on the wall showed me a scene and I couldn't tell who that guy is, only to have him being replaced by the prince and that association is not good for a brain like mine."

She laughed harder. It took her a while to compose herself.

"I believe if you had met him, you would too. Many others did. Some going to extreme lengths." she said, wiping a tear off her eye.

"Men included?" I remarked. I don't know why I did, honestly I really don't know what part of my brain made that connection that made me say that so instinctively that it almost sounded like I had an epiphany so fast. That did stop her from laughing and looked at me in shock. "so men. Included."

"I have vastly underestimated you Alex, I must say." she remarked.

"you can make me one more sandwich." I shrugged, which is the truth honestly I seriously do not want to eat that hotel's food. And apparently that sent her into another fit of laughter.

"I always dreamt of having a daughter, and while I could never hope for one anymore, if I had one, I wish she would have your spirit." she said, wiping more tears that I'm assuming was not from laughter.

"no you do not." I said, leading her to walk this time. "I'm sure the good mother in you would not want your daughter to end up alone."

"no I don't, and no you will not." she patted my hands. Whatever she said next, I did not hear. My ears have been trained to ignore sympathy when it comes to relationship advice. "so would you like to continue?"

"oh yes." I turned to look at what I can only assume is the base for a topiary. "so, men fell in love with the prince. My guess, is his loyal servant, Henry. And so the enchantress, took advantage of that, on the basis of "if I can't get him, then no one will." kind of a deal."

"That is very accurate." Mrs. Fischbach turned enthusiastically to me. "have you considered writing, or joining the investigation forces?"

"yes, and no." I answered. "so, henry loves the prince, like, romantic love."

"yes he does." She said. "you can tell from his eyes, it was something else. But it was forbidden. Back in the days."

"I would imagine so." I nodded. "it still is today in parts of the world. So what happened?"

"your guess is as good as mine. The enchantress, convinced Henry to stop the wedding to profess his love." she said.

"he was probably told, that if it fails, steal the orb and reverse time till the day the prince saved you, and just change that day so he never gets to meet you." I shrugged.

"I implore you to consider changing careers." she said. "but you're right. That's why the fight broke out, and the orb was destroyed. It took everything away from me."

We stopped walking. I looked at her, and it was that same sadness I saw when I first met her.

"so what happened to you?" I asked her.

"the kingdom disappeared in a flash. I had nowhere to go. I searched everywhere and everyone I could to help, but I couldn't get close to the lost kingdom. I even confronted the enchantress, she put a curse on me."

"is that why you lived this long? Alone?" I asked, and it seemed to be jackpot, judging by her expression. "so what happened to her? Also I don't get it, why did they turned into the frog and snake, and why is he taxidermy-ed and the frog became a psycho lecturer with my dad?"


	27. Chapter 27 - Rainbow

Our conversation was cut short, because there was indication that it might be raining. Actually that is an understatement given how it turned from one large drop to a million large drops in just three seconds. Mrs. Fischbach and I made a run for the castle, or whatever that's left of it. We ducked under the doorways and brushed off the bits of water collecting on all the crevices on us.

"so what will happen to this place when it rains?" I asked.

"just like everything else, the dirt gets washed away, and vegetation gets nourishment. Life goes on." she said. I nodded. Life goes on. Just like how I would be, when I get home. Suddenly the dread is real, and I find myself, in spite of myself, wishing I am staying here for a while more.

"so you want to tell me what happen to the big switcharoo?" I asked.

"here is where, we have to do some guesswork, because even I don't know for sure." she said, looking out to the rain. "during the fight, the orb was destroyed, a powerful force transformed the place in various ways."

"the frog and the snake both had pieces of the orbs in them, maybe that's what kept them alive too." I contributed.

"indeed. The frog gained the powers of shapeshifting, Gerald was transformed into a snake." she nodded. "he must have found a way out of the time freeze, and tried to reverse the damage."

"and then he survived for this long, only perhaps to die in the hands of man, and then taxidermy-ed and eventually finding its way to dad." I say.

"being outside and away from the remaining pieces of the orb must have made him more vulnerable." she continued. "and being the most venomous snake in the world does not help."

"so pervy froggy got the better end of the deal? By being a shapeshifter that lived this long?" I snorted. "now I wish I could have squashed him."

Mrs. Fischbach gave a weak smile.

"well, everything happens for a reason." I say. "that's why dad found the snake, and loughlin the frog convinced him to come. I just don't get why he wouldn't let us fix it at the end."

"perhaps he regrets his decision. Henry wanted so badly to bring Gerald back, but at the last moment, he couldn't bare to face him after what he's done." she said apprehensively.

"stupid men." I rolled my eyes, dusting off the rest of the water droplets.

"when I saw the snake, I knew it had to be Gerald, I couldn't get close to the place, but perhaps both of you can, so I put him back with you, in hopes that he can come home one last time." She said.

"but if you're the duchess, why was it that I kissed the snake, and it brought it back from the brink of death?" I asked. This time, she gave the biggest sly smile, and the heartiest of laughs.

"are you sure, you haven't fallen for Gerald?" she asked.

"for one thing, you sure are very cavalier that other people fall in love with Your, fiancé." I frowned.

"haha… Alex." she shook her head. "if only you had the chance to know Gerald, you will understand why everyone loves him so much, and why it is silly, to think that only I can love him."

That's something new, I've never really thought about it. I'm the jealous type. So that's insane talk right there.

"what will happen to you now?" I asked. "the curse is lifted for the castle, pervy frog and Prince Gerald probably finally got their rest."

She gave me a peaceful smile.

"I don't know." she said. "the enchantress cursed me with something only true love can break. My love has now gone over to the other side, or so he has this whole time."

This is the moment I felt the urge to speak my mind, because my gut says otherwise.

"I don't think so." I frowned. Because really, it doesn't make sense. She looked up at me, suddenly attentive and for once in my life, showing genuine interest in what I have to say.

"please." she gestured for me to go on.

"I'm no expert on curses, but I know for a fact, that if a fortune teller predicts something bad, it's likely going to happen because we become so afraid that it will happen, that we actually believe it enough to want to try to avoid it, only to end up with the bad outcome." I began pacing, mostly because I needed to verbalize my thoughts to get it out, and also partly I'm getting hungry, and the walking helps to stop my tummy from growling in the most embarrassing way.

"that is a very accurate observation of the human behavior." she remarked.

"but yet, on the other hand when a fortune teller predicts something good, there's two outcomes." I held up two fingers, and bent one down. "first, is that the person in question believes it so wholeheartedly, without a shadow of doubt, and then it happens and the fortune comes true."

She nodded.

"or two, someone who is so negative, like me," I forced smiled. "that I'm so distrustful of it because it doesn't fit my belief system or my experience, that I doubt it at every step of the way, and it doesn't happen, so I say the fortune is fake."

She frowned slightly, as though she has something to say, but kept it to herself.

"if so, does it work the same way?" I say. "curses, they are still words that were communicated to you, that you believed, in her exact words."

"the enchantress-"

"the bitch." I rolled my eyes. "sorry, please go on."

"the enchantress, said that I am doomed to wander the earth, with no peace nor rest, lest I am one with my true love." she said.

"okay." I narrowed my eyes at the very poorly constructed sonnet. "technically, you were reunited with your true love, because dad brought the snake as a gift to you."

"but I gave you both back the snake." she said.

"as an act of true love, for him to finally find peace and rest, instead of keeping him with you in a state where he is neither alive nor dead. Schrödinger's snake… wow." I frowned at my own sudden tangent. Snapping out of it, I continued. "so technically, you were always with your one true love, in mind, well momentarily in body, but always in spirit."

I'm getting there, I can feel it. So can Mrs. Fischbach as she stood up abruptly.

"so if we look at it this way, you were never cursed, if we go by this logic." I continued quickly, before I break my train of thought. "because you interpret it as being physically with your true love, like both of you together alive, in the same time and space, so yes by that version, you are cursed. Or rather, you accept that curse."

She looked very bewildered now.

"but that's not true. Because over the centuries, you never stop loving him, and that, is the very textbook by definition of true love, right?" without giving her a chance to speak, I pressed on. "and at the moment you could be reunited with him physically, you sent him to a better place, because you still love him and want what's best for him even at your own expense. And if this whole five days has taught me anything is that time and space, like Einstein says, is relative. You can be in different times and space, but that doesn't mean you can't continue to love each other. Right?"

She was completely silent. I guess that's the effect I have on people. I like to verbal diarrhea on people, without a care if they follow my logic or not.

"I do." she said finally, with tears running down her face.

"and who's to say that true love has to come from someone else. It could be your love, not his love for you." I continued. I sense I should stop, but just like the relentless diarrhea, it just keeps going.

"that's very true." now she's breaking down in very large tears, much like the rain outside. "thank you alex. For years, centuries, i've never thought about it this way."

Just then I hear sounds from outside, aside from the rain. People are coming. I'm assuming it's the hand-signal-dudes from before.

"alex." mrs fischbach said seriously suddenly. "if I never see you or your family again, please take good care of yourselves, and it has been a privilege to know your mother and father, and to meet you."

I frowned as she took my hand. This is the moment in movies where people say their dying wish, and it's freaking me out to experience it.

"what's happening?" I asked. Her hands were exceptionally cold.

"I sincerely wish you a happy and healthy life. And you are indeed the daughter I never got to have." she gave me one forced smile in the midst of her tears. The sound outside subsided, it seemed the rain had gradually become smaller, and the people of foreign language is coming closer.

I turned momentarily to see where they are coming from because it was annoying. Frustrating, because I can't even tell what they are saying. They could be reciting pornography lines for all I know and I would be standing there clueless.

"mrs. Fischbach, i-" I turned back, trying to compose myself and compose what I should say, only to see nothing. The space in front of me is now empty, and my hand is awkwardly hanging in mid-air. "oh fu-"

I dashed forward out into the subsiding rain.

"Mrs. Fischbach!" I shouted outside, there was no sign of her. "oh god… no…"

I ran further outside, the garden is empty. Literally. My shoes are spattering wet, and normally I would be cursing and swearing, but this time I couldn't care any less. I ran further up towards the topiary where we stopped and looked around. The rain had completely stopped. Somehow deep down, I knew she was completely gone. But because I never really knew if it was something I said that helped her or not, or she could have disintegrated because the curse backfired on a clause that she never told me I wouldn't know!

From the castle where I stepped outside, a few heads emerged, jabbering in german again. I turned to look at them as they pointed at me to each other. But no matter.

Above the ruins of the castle, high above the tower in the sky, was a bright and clear rainbow arch.

Something german, something something. I could feel the people coming towards me, asking me things that I probably don't know the answer to. They too, turned to look at what I'm looking at, and suddenly their voices became more excited and happy.

Somewhere at the back of my head, a story about lovers and reunion and bridges in heaven came floating back. Maybe they are in a better place now. Maybe that's where Mrs. Fischbach has gone to. Finally some place with peace and rest, and love.

This is going to be hell, to explain to dad. Or worse, mum.


	28. Chapter 28 - Purpose

I believed everything happened for a reason. More so after what has happened. I'll never quite understand what was the purpose of me taking the Prince's bust, because it was confiscated almost immediately when we left the hotel to fly home. Mum's insistence of Dad bringing me home, was the first reasonable thing I've heard since this trip was even conceived.

Mrs. Fischbach's disappearance was the hardest. Not to explain, because Dad surprisingly took my side and believed me. Mum, not so much. But it was harder for me to accept that someone could possibly love for that long, and that deep. The reality of today's world screams otherwise, but here, is a perfect example of what love could be. Like so many things in life, it takes a lot to convince about the good, and one example of the bad to ruin everything.

I find myself silently sitting on the plane, not listening to anything but with my earphones in my ears just to pretend that I'm sleeping. I could hardly sleep, I predict for at least a week. Mum was there to pick us up, which was a bad idea because after the brief hug she gave me, she was then assaulted by Dad and his fanatic screaming about what has happened. Again, the iron-clad rule going through immigration with Dad, get out, get out quick, and don't look back.

I told Mum I want food before going back to my apartment, so she had to drop me off a little ways before closing the door to shut out Dad's breathless recount. Yes I needed food, but more so, I needed some solitude. I'm glad that the weekend is tomorrow, that means I don't have to go to work. I must have made the lady behind me mad by buying all the muffins and sandwiches at the coffee place. But hey. I'm allowed to be upset, and I'm allowed to buy however much I want.

The sight of my apartment ahead as I lugged my backpack and four bags of food was a relief. The stale air that greeted my face as I opened the door was surprisingly comforting despite being used to breathing nothing but the freshest of air for the last few days. I locked my door and dropped my stuff. Throwing my shoes aside and my jacket, I headed for my bedroom. Laundry can wait.

My bed, my bears, my laptop. You would think, that after days of being deprived of their sweet company, I would miss them the most. I flopped face-down on my comforter, pulled a bear towards me. For the first time, I didn't know what could make me feel better, or if I needed to feel better to begin with. But I do know, I need a shower.

I miss walking around my apartment in just a dressing gown. The freedom, is unreal. After giving my hair a proper wash and my face a thorough pamper with moisturiser and lotion, I sat in the living room with my leg on my coffee table. Right hand muffin, left hand sandwich. Next to my left leg a pizza, and my right leg a large order of soda. I didn't know what I was watching on TV, it didn't matter. I needed sound to tune my mind out.

I wanted so desperately to believe, not about what happened with the magic kingdom and all. But about love. That it exists, and there is hope for someone like me. I wanted so desperately to know who the hell is the enchantress and if she's near me and will be pissed off that we found the kingdom and released the prince and frog. I wanted so desperately scream with the entire capacity of my lungs at the world and everything wrong with it.

But sometimes, I have to accept that I'm just only human. Eating muffins and pizza. I may have aided in the discovery of the century, but that is not something that would suddenly make the world right. Once I fall asleep, I would hit pause on my consciousness, and tomorrow I'm still going to wake up to the same person that is me. Unless I do something else, tomorrow will be the same as before I went on the trip. It will be like waking up from a dream, except this time, it wasn't just a dream.

I wanted an adventure, and I sure got it, even though it is my nature to not realise it. I set aside my food and crawled to my discarded bag by the door. I emptied the contents out on the floor, as though I was hoping there would be something to remind me of the trip. Nothing. I crawled back to the couch, and picked up my muffin.

The unease I feel, the unresolved feeling that I have as I munched on the muffin, I realise, was an absolution I needed that I could be different, think differently, believe differently, and feel differently. There was a lot that I babbled to Mrs. Fischbach before I disintegrated her, and it shocks me that I was capable of dishing nonsense like that to complete strangers, yet when it comes to myself, I can't seem to find a resolution in me to change for the better.

It all comes down to what we really inherently believed isn't it? Mrs. Fischbach believed she will never find peace because she needed to be with her love. Dad believed he will find the kingdom. What did I believe in? Nothing. I never let myself believe because I was afraid to be disappointed. But is disappointment really that frightening? For big things like finding magic kingdoms, perhaps. But for little things in life, like taking the first step to say hi to the guy I liked, or writing a script in dreams that it will be turned into a movie, are they really going to be that disappointing if it turned out the other way? Tonnes of people get rejected on a daily basis, I should know, I almost rejected the opportunity to go find a magic kingdom.

Truth is, I don't want those five days to go away. The first time I truly believed in something, was absurdly phantom. Magic kingdoms, frogs that talk, people sucked into time and space, and kissing the most venomous snake in the world because he's the prince. This is one hell of a story to tell. And, knowing dad, he won't tell it this way.

But I can.

Suddenly the muffin and the pizza and the sandwiches aren't so appealing anymore. I need my laptop. I need to write. I need to document everything, every detail, every feeling, every thought. I climbed over the couch and headed for the bedroom. I turned on my laptop and looked out the window. The sun, is setting. It's sunset. One I have never really appreciated. I need to write this.

Because it wasn't a dream, and I shouldn't let it be a five-day dream. It was real. It was the first time, I wasn't afraid to believe. And knowing I did it once, just means I can do it again, when the time comes.

The End


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